Anti-Zionist party may be barred

May 5, 2009

PARIS (JTA) -- An anti-Zionist ticket may be barred from European Parliament elections because it may be an illegal cover for anti-Semitism, France’s general secretary announced.

French judges and the interior minister are conducting an investigation to determine whether the anti-Zionist party platform headed by a comedian known as Dieudonné is in fact anti-Semitic, General Secretary Claude Guéant announced Monday on France’s RTL radio.

If so, the party will be barred from participating in the upcoming elections to the European Parliament at the beginning of June.

Dieudonné, who previously has run for political office, announced at the end of March that he would head an anti-Zionist ticket. In December he stirred controversy when when he invited a Holocaust denier, Robert Faurisson, to join him in one of his performances, and he has been condemned for anti-Semitic hate speech in the past.

On Sunday, Guéant told France Radio J that Dieudonné’s party platform was “openly anti-Semitic,” but that it would be up to investigators to make a final conclusion on the matter.

Socialist Party spokesman Benoit Hamon worried that if Dieudonné’s anti-Zionist party is exonerated, the comedian will be seen as a victim of illegitimate attempts to censor him and he could gain in popularity.

Speaking on LCP French National Assembly news network Monday, Hamon said that if Guéant cannot guarantee the anti-Zionist party will be barred from the elections, he “has made a serious political error.”

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Anti-Zionist party may be barred

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