In brief
Jordan Bardella dismissed a Mediapart report that he used antisemitic tropes in 2013, saying the evidence is fabricated to sabotage the National Rally campaign. He has announced a libel lawsuit and accused the publication of conspiracy, while Marine Le Pen backed his claims. The allegations echo deep‑seated far‑right ideology, posing a challenge to RN’s attempts to distance itself from its antisemitic past. Critics argue the comments reveal lingering extremist tendencies, while the party frames the attacks as political retaliation. The controversy comes at a critical week before France’s top‑court‑concluding presidential poll.
Jordan Bardella, the president of France’s hard‑right National Rally, has announced a libel lawsuit against the Mediapart website after the outlet released claims that he made antisemitic trills as a 17‑year‑old.
Mediapart said it had “authenticated” dozens of written conversations from 2013 that contained remarks such as “All the banks are owned by Jews” and “The Jew has to dominate other people, crush them and rob them.” Bardella denies the authenticity of the messages, calling the report a “fabrication” aimed at destabilising his party’s campaign ahead of the presidential race.
He told CNews television that “either Mediapart is running this operation itself, or it is being manipulated by interested parties,” and added that he had instructed his lawyer to sue for libel. Marine Le Pen, his party’s presidential candidate, echoed his stance, describing the alleged remarks as “so weird that they can only be a forgery.”
The National Rally has been working to shed its far‑right image, even inviting Bardella to a conference on antisemitism in Israel last year and branding itself a “shield for the Jewish community.” Yet the controversy reveals deep‑seated ideological currents that critics say remain hidden beneath the party’s makeover.
Incidents such as this come at a pivotal moment, with polls showing Le Pen outpacing rivals and the party gaining a parliamentary group in the Senate. Left‑wing politicians and Jewish community leaders have called for Bardella’s resignation, citing the alleged remarks as evidence of the party’s lingering extremist underpinnings. Bardella, meanwhile, frames the accusations as political retaliation from former party members who were expelled for their antisemitic views.
Jordan Bardella, 31, would probably be prime minister if Marine Le Pen wins the next presidential election.
