heated debates in the National Assembly during the examination of the bill

The RN deputy Julien Odoul notably accused the Minister of Justice of having made an “anti-Semitic quenelle” in the hemicycle.

“Anti-Semite”, “denialist”, “quenelle”… the National Assembly brought its fractures to light on Wednesday March 6, during the debate on a text against racism and anti-Semitism which turned into fistfights between the Insoumis, the presidential camp, the right and the National gathering.

Tempers quickly heated up around this Renaissance text, aiming in particular to strengthen the penalties for “provocations, defamation and non-public insults of a discriminatory nature”committing crimes.

Julien Odoul, RN deputy, spoke of “anti-Semitic drift” of the “supporters of Jean-Luc Mélenchon”, notably accusing LFI officials of complacency with Hamas after October 7. Speaking after the elected RN, Nadège Abomangoli (LFI) joked about “honor” of “to go after a racist and anti-Semitic Holocaust denier”.

The Minister of Justice pulled out all the stops

On the bench of ministers, the Keeper of the Seals, Eric Dupond-Moretti, fired all guns at him. “We are here to adopt a text against racism and anti-Semitism, you don’t want it, you don’t want it,” he said, pointing successively at the benches of the RN and LFI, while the debates dragged on.

Before that, he had accused LFI of wanting “to please [un] Islamist electoratereproaching the rebellious leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon for having said on “camping in Tel Aviv to encourage the massacre” in Gaza. “Never, anywhere, do we try to get the vote of anti-Semites. We fight them”sharply replied LFI deputy Antoine Léaument.

Facing the RN, the minister also launched a long attack against comments made by officials of the far-right party. “You forget to remember that anti-Semitism also comes from your party founded by a Waffen-SS.”

Accusation of “quenelle”

But the tension peaked when Julien Odoul accused the Minister of Justice of having made a “anti-Semitic dumpling” in the hemicycle. The “quenelle” (arm extended downward and opposite hand placed on the shoulder) was popularized by the polemicist Dieudonné, condemned on several occasions for anti-Semitic statements, a gesture he described as“anti-system”.

“It was you who invented the quenelle”retorted the minister, reproducing the gesture and castigating the far-right essayist Alain Soral, convicted of “public insult” after the distribution in 2019 on the internet of a photo showing him performing a “quenelle”.

The text, which will have to go to the Senate, plans to extend the powers of the criminal court, allowing it to issue committal or arrest warrants for certain offenses falling under the law on freedom of the press, punishable by one year of imprisonment or in a situation of recidivism. It was finally adopted unanimously by the 107 voters (Renaissance, Horizons, MoDem, PS, LR, ecologist and Liot). The LFI, GDR and RN deputies abstained.