Fake Bernard-Henri Levy quote on French elections triggers anti-Semitic avalanche online
A satirical article suggesting that the French-Jewish philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy plans to emigrate if a far-left politician is elected president triggered a slew of anti-Semitic comments on Twitter.
In the fake interview published last week on the satirical website NordPresse, Levy, one of the country’s best-known celebrities, is quoted as saying, “If Melenchon is elected, I’m leaving France.”
Jean-Luc Melenchon, who is the presidential candidate of the French Communist Party and several other far-left groups, has made considerable gains in polls ahead of the first round of the presidential elections on April 23.
Using the hashtag #BHL — the Jewish philosopher’s initials — hundreds of Melenchon supporters circulated the fake interview on Twitter, adding anti-Semitic comments about it.
“Shove off to Israel or the States, you son of a bitch,” one Twitter user wrote in an apparent reference to the fact that Levy, who is a citizen neither of Israel nor of the United States, is Jewish. Another wrote, “If Melenchon wins BHL knows where he can return.” The latter added a banner advertising Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to tourists.
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CRIF, the umbrella group of French Jewish communities, has a boycott policy on Melenchon’s party and that of the far-right politician Marine Le Pen.
“They both traffic in hatred,” CRIF President Francis Kalifat said in February in explaining this policy.
http://www.jta.org/2017/04/19/news-opinion/world/fake-bernard-henri-levy-quote-on-french-elections-triggers-anti-semitic-avalanche-online
