Once again, La France insoumise refused to qualify Hamas as a “terrorist” movement.
This is the trigger for the split of the Nupes. The war between Israel and Hamas has shaken up the left since the start of the conflict, in particular because of the positions taken by La France insoumise. Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s party is accused of finding justifications for the Hamas attack. LFI denounces with one voice the Islamist movement and Israeli colonization, a position out of step with the rest of the political class.
Certain rebellious leaders, first and foremost Jean-Luc Mélenchon, have refused since the start of the war to qualify Hamas as “terrorist”. A position maintained by the LFI deputy for Essonne, Antoine Léaument, Friday December 29, on LCI. “We condemn the actions of Hamas, but we do not qualify this group as ‘terrorist'”, declared the elected official, specifying that his party has “no difficulty in qualifying the attacks of October 7 as terrorist attacks”.
“If we qualify Hamas as a ‘terrorist’ group, this opens the way to non-compliance with international rules and the conflict can only be read as a war against terrorism,” justified the rebellious MP. “And the latter authorizes everything, including the mass bombing of the population without paying attention to the consequences of the bombs,” he added.
Nupes Fracture
While the political class almost unanimously condemned the Hamas attacks, the far-left party sticks to its positions to the great dismay of its allies within the New Popular Ecological and Social Union (Nupes). In a tweet, the LFI leader summarized the party’s official position: “ceasefire, release of hostages, humanitarian corridor, end of the blockade of Gaza, condemnation of all war crimes” and “political solution of “UN with two viable states with secure borders, non-aligned France”.
Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior, even took legal action for “apology of terrorism” against the deputy of La France insoumise Danièle Obono for having said that Hamas “resists an occupation”. Among the rebels, the deputy François Ruffin, one of the potential candidates for the 2027 presidential election, stood out from his comrades by expressing, from the start of the conflict, “total condemnation of the Hamas attack”.