{"id":42306,"date":"2026-03-02T03:04:37","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T03:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=42306"},"modified":"2026-03-02T03:04:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T03:04:37","slug":"french-hard-left-firebrand-defends-epstein-jibe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=42306","title":{"rendered":"French hard-left firebrand  defends Epstein jibe"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>France\u2019s hard-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon on Sunday defended himself against accusations of antisemitism, which were sparked by his mocking the pronunciation of the name \u201cEpstein\u201d during a rally.<\/p>\n<p>The latest row involving the founder of the France Unbowed (LFI) party came ahead of municipal elections next month and the 2027 presidential vote, as calls grow for left-wing politicians to break with the LFI leader.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, speaking at a gathering in the southeastern city of Lyon, Melenchon invoked the name of Jeffrey Epstein, after recent disclosures detailed the convicted sex offender\u2019s extensive ties to the world\u2019s rich and famous.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to say \u2018Epstein\u2019, sorry, it sounds more Russian, \u2018Epsteen\u2019,\u201d said Melenchon, a three-time presidential candidate expected to run again in elections next year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo now you\u2019ll say Epsteen instead of Epstein, Franckensteen instead of Frankenstein,\u201d he told a laughing audience.<\/p>\n<p>The comments sparked outrage from across the political spectrum in France.<\/p>\n<p>Melenchon, 74, had said his comments were \u201cironic\u201d and on Sunday, he rejected the accusations again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am not antisemitic,\u201d he told a crowd of some 2,000 people at a rally for an LFI candidate in the southern town of Perpignan. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t me who made the connection between Epstein and his religion,\u201d he said. \u201cThat man had no religion, and there is no God who can claim such scum and filth as his own.\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t associate Islam with those who kill, and don\u2019t associate Epstein with religion either,\u201d he said, to enthusiastic applause from an audience of all ages, many waving French and Palestinian flags.<\/p>\n<p>The LFI and Melenchon have faced accusations of failing to properly condemn the October 7, 2023 attacks by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel.<br \/>\n\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>France\u2019s hard-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon on Sunday defended himself against accusations of antisemitism, which were sparked by his mocking the pronunciation of the name \u201cEpstein\u201d during a rally. The latest row involving the founder of the France Unbowed (LFI) party came ahead of municipal elections next month and the 2027 presidential vote, as calls grow [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42306\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}