Le Pen ally Bardella sues over antisemitism claims, alleges 'total war'

Jordan Bardella, a key ally of French far-right presidential frontrunner Marine Le Pen, on Tuesday said allegations he made antisemitic comments in 2013 marked part of a "total war" against their National Rally party ahead of the 2027 polls. Backed by fellow party members, Bardella announced that he had filed a complaint for defamation. Issued on: 29/09/2026 - 15:32Modified: 29/09/2026 - 15:34 3 min Reading time "We are seeing the beginnings of a total war, an attempt to destabilise the presidential campaign," National Rally (RN) leader Bardella, flanked by Le Pen, told party deputies on Tuesday. He denounced what he called a bid to "kill my political career", with the allegations published by the investigative website Mediapart, which he has denied. Le Pen said she had "total confidence" in Bardella, 31, who is tipped to become prime minister if she wins the presidency after he made a meteoric rise through party ranks over the last decade. Le Pen reaffirmed she had "total confidence" in her young lieutenant and vowed the RN would "counterattack" after the allegations. She warned "our opponents will do absolutely anything – including the most disgusting things – to try to derail this momentum" ahead of the 2027 election for a successor to centrist President Emmanuel Macron. The months-long investigation draws on private written conversations which Mediapart claims to have authenticated – reportedly written by Bardella in the summer of 2013, when he was between 17 and 18 years old. The wesbite does not specify who received the messages, nor were there any screen grabs of extracts published. "Banks are all owned by Jews"; "The Jew must dominate [sic] other peoples, crush them and rob them; a Zionist is necessarily Jewish, and deeply so": Bardella allegedly wrote. Several members of the RN party spoke out in defence of Bardella. Senate breakthrough "If these attacks are taking place now, it is because Marine Le Pen is on the verge of becoming President of the Republic," said Eric Ciotti, president of the UDR party – an ally of the RN. "All of this amounts to defamation and caricature." Thomas Ménagé, MP for Loiret and RN spokesperson in the National Assembly described the comments attributed to Bardella as "completely delusional". "Knowing Jordan Bardella as I do, neither the Jordan Bardella of today nor the Jordan Bardella of ten years ago could have made such remarks," he told France 2 television. The revelations come two days after the RN made historic gains in the elections for the upper house Senate – which is chosen by local officials – winning enough seats to form a faction in the chamber for the first time. Le Monde daily described it as a "breakthrough" for the movement and a "warning" for other parties. Far right gains ground in French Senate For Green politician and presidential hopeful Marine Tondelier – Bardella "must resign from all his positions. The man who today presents himself as the greatest defender of France's Jews is in reality an obsessive antisemite," she wrote on social media platform X. Anti-discrimination minister Aurore Bergé said the comments, if authenticated, were "extremely serious". "Their anti-Semitic and conspiracist nature reminds those who would like to forget it of the true nature of the far right," she added on X. A poll published Monday suggested that Le Pen would easily lead the first round of voting in the elections next year, and would defeat any challenger in the second round run-off to win the Elysée. "Now, I think it's Mediapart that needs to be told to put on its Kevlar vest, because there will obviously be a response to the way they are behaving," she said, referring to the material used to make bullet-proof vests. 'De-demonising' project Bardella, a savvy user of social media who projects a clean-cut image, has been a key player in Le Pen's project of "de-demonisation" to make the RN into an electable force. Both have moved to rid the RN of the legacy of her father Jean-Marie Le Pen who founded and led the its predecessor party the National Front (FN) and repeatedly made antisemitic remarks. French Jewish group distances itself from far-right leaders' Israel visit Bardella made an unprecedented visit to Israel in 2025, the first by a French far-right leader, in a bid to demonstrate the RN's new credentials. "This illustrates the limits of the effort to shed the pariah status of the National Rally," Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), told French news agency AFP. "You cannot claim to be fighting antisemitism on the one hand while continuing to be a haven for identitarians of all kinds, especially those who propagate antisemitic rhetoric," he said. The party "has never been part of the republican mainstream and never will be," anti-racism organisation Licra also commented. (with AFP)