Bardella denies alleged antisemitic remarks and plans libel lawsuit

Jordan Bardella, leader of France’s hard-right National Rally, said he plans to sue for libel over a Mediapart report alleging that he wrote antisemitic comments in 2013, when he was 17 or 18.

Bardella called the allegations a fabricated attempt to destroy his political career and described them as the beginning of a “total war” against his party. Marine Le Pen, the National Rally’s presidential candidate, said she had complete confidence in him.

Mediapart did not publish screenshots

Mediapart said it had spent several months examining dozens of written conversations and independently authenticated them using a wider documentary record and witness statements. The website did not publish screenshots of the alleged messages.

The statements attributed to Bardella include antisemitic claims about Jews, banks, Israel and a “new world order”. Bardella called the report an attempt to destabilise the election campaign and suggested the website could be acting on behalf of interested parties.

National Rally rejects the allegations

Le Pen said the alleged remarks appeared so strange that she believed they could be forgeries. National Rally lawmaker Jean-Philippe Tanguy linked the accusations to former party members who, he said, had been expelled years ago because of antisemitic views.

Leftwing politicians called for Bardella’s resignation. Yonathan Arfi, head of the French Jewish umbrella organisation Crif, said the allegations showed the limits of the party’s effort to distance itself from the antisemitic roots of France’s far right.

Party gains momentum before election

Bardella, 31, is considered a likely prime minister if Le Pen wins the presidential election. The report said seven months remained before the vote.

A Toluna-Harris poll showed Le Pen winning 35-36% in the first round and defeating Jean-Luc Mélenchon with 69% in a runoff. The poll also put her ahead of centrist Edouard Philippe by 57% in a second-round matchup.

On Sunday, the National Rally won enough seats in a partial Senate election to form an official parliamentary group for the first time. Under Le Pen, the party has sought to distance itself from the French far right’s antisemitic roots and presents itself as a “shield for the Jewish community”.