Far-Left French Party Demands Cancellation of Israeli Pop Star Eyal Golan’s Paris Concert, Citing Alleged “Genocide Support” — Jewish Leaders Decry Move as Antisemitic

Edited by: Fern Sidman

In a move igniting widespread condemnation and deepening concerns about France’s increasingly hostile political climate toward Jews and Israelis, France’s far-left political party, La France Insoumise (LFI), led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, has called for the cancellation of a concert by Israeli pop sensation Eyal Golan, branding him a “mouthpiece for genocide supporters” over his pro-Israel stance during the Gaza war.

According to a report that appeared on Thursday in The Algemeiner, the inflammatory statement was released on Wednesday by LFI lawmakers in the French National Assembly, demanding that authorities prohibit Golan’s May 20th performance in Paris, which is expected to attract over 4,500 attendees.

“No one should come to Paris to sing hymns to the genocide of the Palestinian people,” the statement declared, referencing comments made by Golan on social media following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 terrorist massacre in Israel, where over 1,200 civilians were slaughtered and 251 abducted.

LFI alleges that Golan posted the phrase “Leave no soul alive” on social media in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attacks — a statement the party claims advocates for the extermination of Palestinians. According to the report at The Algemeiner, the party went further, accusing the singer of repeating the phrase days later and receiving backing from Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a frequent lightning rod in left-wing European discourse.

In their statement, LFI framed the concert as an affront to the “thousands of Gaza victims,” claiming that Golan’s presence in the French capital is tantamount to normalizing and celebrating war crimes.

“France cannot tolerate such an unnecessary insult,” the statement read, urging the Paris prefect to act immediately to ban the performance outright.

The backlash to LFI’s demand was swift. Liam Productions, the organizers of Golan’s European tour, denounced the campaign to cancel the concert as “a new form of antisemitic repression masquerading as political virtue,” according to a statement shared with The Algemeiner.

“On Holocaust Remembrance Day, as we remember the consequences of staying silent in the face of hate, far-left parties in France seek to boycott an Israeli artist simply because he is Israeli,” Liam Productions said. “This is not freedom of expression — it is antisemitism disguised as morality. The people of Israel will not be silent, will not apologize, and will not stop singing.”

This latest controversy adds to an increasingly alarming pattern of statements and actions by Mélenchon and his LFI party, which many Jewish leaders argue have crossed the line from anti-Zionism into outright antisemitism.

As documented by The Algemeiner, Mélenchon has a long history of inflammatory remarks targeting the French Jewish community. He has previously stated that Jews are an “arrogant minority that lectures to the rest”, and falsely implied that Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus — a trope long associated with medieval Christian antisemitism.

Following the October 7 attacks, Mélenchon characterized Hamas’s massacre of Israeli civilians as an “armed offensive by Palestinian forces” — sparking outrage among Jewish organizations in France and abroad. The Algemeiner report indicated that he has also publicly expressed support for Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terrorist group committed to Israel’s destruction, describing their actions as “national resistance” in social media posts.

The growing hostility toward Jewish individuals and institutions in France is underscored by recent data from the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), also cited by The Algemeiner.

According to CRIF’s latest annual report, France recorded 1,570 antisemitic acts in 2024, a sharp increase from 2022’s total of 436, though slightly below the record-high 1,676 in 2023. More than 65% of these incidents targeted individuals, with over 10% involving physical assaults. In late May and early June alone, antisemitic activity surged by more than 140%, far exceeding weekly averages.

CRIF President Yonathan Arfi sharply criticized LFI’s rhetoric and tactics, telling Le Point that the party had “politically legitimized antisemitism” and was fueling a toxic fusion of anti-Israel activism with hostility toward French Jews. “We observe this dangerous blurring between legitimate criticism of Israel and the scapegoating of French Jews. The Palestinian cause is being exploited as a license to hate,” Arfi said, according to the report at The Algemeiner.

As Eyal Golan’s concert remains on the schedule for now, the fight over whether it should be allowed to proceed has become symbolic of a broader cultural and political clash in France — one pitting pro-Israel and Jewish communities against radical leftist factions who blur the lines between political protest and identity-based vilification.

For many in France’s Jewish community — the largest in Europe — the LFI campaign is not just about a concert. It is about whether Jews, Israelis, and Zionist perspectives will continue to be allowed to exist in public French life without fear, censorship, or threats.

As The Algemeiner report noted, this is not merely an artistic dispute but a flashpoint in the increasingly fraught relationship between French democracy, freedom of expression, and the safety of its Jewish citizens.

The coming days will reveal whether Paris officials succumb to political pressure or stand firm in support of pluralism and artistic freedom — a litmus test, many argue, for France’s broader commitment to civil liberties in a time of growing tension.