Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that he wanted a "mandatory ineligibility sentence" for elected officials guilty of "anti-Semitic, racist and discriminatory acts and remarks", denouncing the "anti-Semitic hydra" which has interfered "in every interstice" of society for 20 years.
Published on: 02/13/2026 - 2:15 p.m. Modified on: 02/13/2026 - 4:49 p.m.
To display this YouTube content, it is necessary to authorize audience measurement and advertising cookies.
An extension in your browser appears to be blocking the loading of the video player. To be able to watch this content, you must disable or uninstall it.
On the occasion of his tribute to Ilan Halimi, a young Jew kidnapped and tortured to death in 2006, Emmanuel Macron announced on Friday February 13 that he wanted a "mandatory ineligibility sentence" for elected officials guilty of "anti-Semitic, racist and discriminatory acts and remarks".
The head of state denounced “the anti-Semitic hydra” which has interfered “in every interstice” of society for 20 years and stressed that the fight against anti-Semitism must be “the fight of every French person” because “when in the homeland, a Jew is in danger, it is the homeland itself which is in danger”.
Also read “We remove the yarmulke”: after October 7, French Jews face the anti-Semitic outbreak
He castigated "the Islamist anti-Semitism at the origin of the October 7 pogrom" and "the anti-Semitism of the far left (...) which competes with that of the far right and its clichés about power and wealth".
He also attacked “anti-Semitism which uses the mask of anti-Zionism to progress quietly”.
“The very one who, in a dizzying historical inversion, intends to turn the Jews into genocidaires,” he judged.
Social networks in the viewfinder
To fight “against the poison of digital hatred”, France “will demand accountability from the major platforms and measurable results in the rapid removal of hateful content”.
“If the commitments are not kept, we will activate European law which provides for significant fines,” he assured.
“With all due respect to certain powers who would like to give us lessons: in the France of the Enlightenment, free speech (Editor's note: freedom of speech) stops at anti-Semitism and racism,” he insisted in an allusion to the United States.
Emmanuel Macron wants a “mandatory ineligibility penalty” for elected officials guilty of “anti-Semitic, racist and discriminatory acts and remarks” because politicians must be “sentinels of the Republic”.
“Too often, the sentences handed out against the perpetrators of anti-Semitic offenses and crimes seem derisory,” he judged, indicating that the government and Parliament “will work to strengthen the penalization of anti-Semitic and racist acts”.
The ceremony was held 20 years to the day after the death of the young man, found dying along a railway track and died during his transfer to hospital after three weeks of abuse.
The head of state then planted an oak tree in the garden of the Élysée, “a symbol of rooting the memory of Ilan Halimi in the Republic”.
With AFP
Keywords associated with the article
The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.
