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French Party Leader Says Jesus’ ‘Compatriots’ Killed Him

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July 20, 2020
PARIS, FRANCE – MAY 01: Jean-Luc Melenchon, President of the Left Party attends the May Day demonstration on May 1, 2012 in Paris, France. The French trade unionists and the Left traditionally hold parades throughout France on May Day, otherwise known as Labour Day. This year warnings have been given of increased disruption as tension builds ahead of the French presidential elections which will hold their final round on May 6, 2012. (Photo by Trago/Getty Images)

In a July 16 radio interview, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left French political party La France Insoumise (France Unbowed), said that Jesus Christ’s “compatriots” put him on the cross.

According to i24 News, Mélenchon was asked if “the police should be like Jesus on the cross and not reply” during the anti-racism protests. Mélenchon replied, “I don’t know if Jesus was on the cross. I know who put him there; it seems that it was his own compatriots.”

Anti-defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted that Mélenchon essentially accused Jews of killing Jesus. “Disturbing that the leader of left-wing France Unbowed party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, used an age-old anti-semitic trope accusing Jews of killing Jesus,” Greenblatt wrote.

He then provided a link to a section of the ADL’s guide on anti-Semitic myths, explaining the history behind the trope that Jews killed Jesus.

In 2019, Mélenchon accused the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions of “blatant, violent and aggressive sectarianism, namely against me … to the point of encouraging people to hit me during a demonstration like the one for Mirelle Knoll.” Knoll was the 85-year-old Holocaust survivor killed in March 2018; two men suspected of killing her will stand trial.

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