France’s new speaker of the National Assembly is a Jewish attorney, who is the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors and the first-ever woman to hold that position.
Yael Braun-Pivet, 51, is a prominent criminal lawyer and mother of five, whose ancestors fled Eastern Europe in order to escape the Nazi takeover of the region.
A former member of the Socialist party, she is now part of former prime minister Emmanuel Macron’s liberal La République En Marche! (LREM) party.
She previously served as the president of the National Assembly Law commission. She also had a two-month stint as Minister of the Overseas Territories, which began in May 2022, a position which she left in order to serve as Assembly speaker.
Braun-Pivet’s left-wing politics were clear in her first speech as Speaker, during which she vocally criticized the recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
Calling the ruling “brutal,” she said that the move “which shocked us so much is a stark reminder to be vigilant.”
She pledged to safeguard abortion rights in France and that she would serve as a “watchdog” to ensure that access to abortion “remains in place forever.”
In February 2021, Braun-Pivet shared on Twitter an email she received in which an unnamed man suggested that her left-wing policies would endanger her because she is Jewish.
The writer noted that an influx in Muslim migrants to France had led to a spike in antisemitic violence, and insinuated that her pro-immigration stance would mean more problems for France’s already embattled Jewish communities.
Referencing the Holocaust, the email read that “this time, it’s the Muslims who will deal with you.”
The email continued with references to French Jewry’s shrinking sense of safety in the country.
“Jews can no longer come into some neighborhoods. Within two generations it will be whole cities. Demography determines reality.”