LFI’s position on Hamas continues to fuel criticism from the French political class. On Saturday evening, former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe in turn castigated the “enormous political mistake” of Jean-Luc Mélenchon who refused to qualify the Islamist movement as a “terrorist” organization after its October 7 attack against Israel.
“I blame him (…): this is a huge political mistake. What he said was rubbish and as he is intelligent he should know that,” said the current mayor of Le Havre on the set of the show “What a time! » on France 2.
Philippe “surprised” by Mélenchon’s positioning
The former head of government also said he was “surprised” by the positioning of the leader of LFI, recalling that he had participated alongside him in a television program the day after the attacks of November 13, 2015. “I must say that that day he impressed me, because he knew how to find the right words in national unity,” he said.
Asked at the end of the program what question he would ask Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Edouard Philippe replied that he was “wondering if he really wanted to make the revolution or if he was pretending”. “I always wondered,” he added.
The refusal of rebellious France to recognize the terrorist character of Hamas has sparked strong criticism from all other political forces. On the left, the Nupes is more than ever threatened with imploding by the positions of the LFI: the Communist Party is discussing this weekend an exit from the left alliance and the PS, which was to do the same, has postponed its national council “taking into account the dramatic context linked to the assassination” of teacher Dominique Bernard on Friday in Arras. No new date has been communicated.