French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced during the 40th CRIF annual dinner, that the bill introduced by MP Caroline Yadan, aimed at criminalising anti-Zionism, would be placed on the parliamentary agenda “as early as April”.
The draft notably proposes broadening the offence of glorifying terrorism and creating a new offence of denying the existence of a state.
In his speech, Sébastien Lecornu sought to qualify the issue: supporting Israel, he stated, does not mean supporting a particular government, but rather defending the existence of a state, its security, and the right of the Jewish people to self-determination.
The head of government also denounced what he described as the political instrumentalisation of international law, implicitly referring to Francesca Albanese. According to him, certain positions taken by the UN Special Rapporteur, particularly alongside representatives of Hamas or Iran, undermine the credibility of international discourse.
Another measure put forward is the introduction into French law of a penalty of ineligibility for public office for those convicted of antisemitic remarks, a proposal by Emmanuel Macron welcomed by CRIF President Yonathan Arfi. Arfi warned of an “ambient antisemitism” and recalled that 1,320 antisemitic acts were recorded in 2025.
Yonathan Arfi also strongly criticised La France Insoumise, accusing it of representing a “danger” to Jews in France, and called on other left-wing forces to clearly break with the movement.
