LFI MP Raphaël Arnault provoked controversy by calling Israeli supporters who hadn’t “come to pick daffodils” in Amsterdam “racist” and “violent”, after Thursday night’s violent clashes.
An evening of sporting fervor turned violent. After the Israeli soccer team lost to local club Ajax on Thursday evening, supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv were targeted in the streets of Amsterdam (Netherlands). These attacks quickly provoked a reaction in France, just one week before the FIFA World Cup. of the match between Les Bleus and Israel at the Stade de France, which is already shaping up to be a tense affair..
In a message published this Friday on X, Emmanuel Macron condemned violence reminiscent of “the most outrageous hours in history”.. “What happened in Amsterdam is unacceptable. It is the large-scale deployment of anti-Semitism.”for his part, denounced Bruno Retailleauconfirming that the November 14 meeting will go ahead. “Let’s stop going backwards, let’s stop giving up”.said the French Interior Minister, following calls for the match to be relocated or even cancelled.
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On social networking sites, his Macronist colleague in charge of Europe, Benjamin Haddad, described the clashes in the Dutch capital as “an act of terror”. “Jew-hunting on European soil”.. “No weakness, no cowardice in the face of anti-Semitism”he insisted. Former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal was also moved by “the blind hatred of men and women because they are Jewish”..
An indignation shared by Marine Le Penwho in turn deplored a “outburst of anti-Semitic violence that defiles and dishonors Europe”.. Before pointing the finger “the extreme left gangrened by Islamist ideology”. and “irresponsible speeches by certain political leaders”.. In the same breath, RN, Jordan Bardellacontinued the charge against “the irresponsible (…) who stir up anti-Semitic hatred under the guise of defending the Palestinians”.. Same reaction from their ally and boss of the UDR, Éric Ciottiwho spoke of “the return of a crystal night”. whose violence “provoke an electroshock.
Controversy on the left
On the left, the comments of the Insoumis MP and former spokesman for the anti-fascist Young Guard, Raphaël Arnault, on the other hand, caused unease in the ranks of the New Popular Front. “If you follow soccer at all, Maccabi Tel Aviv fans are reputed to be home to the biggest fringe of far-right, racist and violent hooligans.”he wrote on social networks. And he put the previous day’s incidents into perspective: “Yesterday in Amsterdam, they didn’t come to pick daffodils.”
An insinuation quickly denounced by his Socialist colleague, Jérôme Guedjfor which “it’s getting really worrying when a deputy justifies the use of violence on the theme “they had it coming””. A few hours earlier, the ecologist Sandrine Rousseau had already expressed her indignation at comments suggesting that “Israeli fans provoked”. “But what’s wrong with justifying violence like that?”she commented on social networks. Questioned Friday morning on CNews, the coordinator of LFI, Manuel Bompardsaid that “if there have been assaults (…) they are unacceptable”.. Before assuring, however, that he had seen “also circulate images from “racist provocations” by Israeli supporters.