French far-right’s Bardella denies alleged antisemitic comments

A French investigative website on Monday alleged that far-right National Rally (RN) leader Jordan Bardella made antisemitic comments in writing in 2013 but the close ally of presidential front runner Marine Le Pen dismissed the claims as fake.

According to the report by Mediapart, Bardella wrote, among other comments, in a chat: “The Jew has to dominate other peoples, crush them, and rob them; a Zionist is necessarily a Jew, and fundamentally so.”

Bardella, 31, tipped to be prime minister if Le Pen becomes France’s president, wrote on X he “formally” rejected the allegations which he described as “crude forgeries”.

He later told the CNews broadcaster that his lawyer had filed a lawsuit for defamation. Bardella said he believed he was being targeted in an attempt to “destabilise the campaign” by the RN to win the French presidency and to “kill me off politically”.