Bardella is fighting back. The 31‑year‑old head of the National Rally says he will sue the France‑based website Mediapart after it revealed alleged antisemitic chats he supposedly wrote when he was 17 or 18. The posts, which claim he blamed “all banks” on Jews and called for a new world order led by Israel, have sparked a media firestorm.
Mediapart says it spent months digging into a “huge documentary base” and cross‑checked the texts with witness statements. No screenshots were released, but the story has been repeated on political talk shows and social media, where half‑the‑world debate whether it is a real scandal or a smokescreen.
“Everything will be done to destabilise the campaign,” Bardella told a French TV channel. He added that he has ordered a libel lawsuit. Marine Le Pen, who backs him, called the documents “apparently forged” and said Mediapart may be used as a tool by “interested parties.”
The National Rally is riding a wave of support in the weeks before the July presidential vote. Recent polls put Le Pen in the lead for the first round and suggest she could win the second round with 69% against a left‑wing rival. Yet scandals like this threaten to stall the party’s “clean‑up” narrative, which has tried to distance itself from its distant far‑right roots.
Left‑wing politicians and Jewish advocacy groups have called on Bardella to step down. The head of the umbrella Jewish organisation CRIF called the allegations proof that the party’s purge of “antisemitic rabble” was in fact an attempt to silence critics. On the other hand, RN deputies claim the reports stem from expelled members still harrying the party.
With the election coming, the National Rally must juggle the drama of a potential libel case with its campaign that sees it as a defender of France against militant Islam, a stance that resonates with many Jewish voters. How this mix plays out on the political stage remains to be seen.
