US/World News

French former lawmaker suggests kosher goods boycott

(JTA) – A French antisemitism watchdog group called for a police probe against a former lawmaker who seemingly urged Muslim shoppers to avoid purchasing a Jewish-produced kosher product. “Ramadan soon: Watch out with your shopping,” Jean-Claude Lefort, a former lawmaker for France’s Communist Party and current president of the France Palestine Solidarity Association, or AFPS, wrote in a social media posting June 9. Attached to the post, appearing on Lefort’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, was a picture of a package of leaf dough produced by the France-based firm Sofrabrick. The package carried the firm’s name and address near Paris, as well as a kosher seal with Hebrew letters. “We know this brand. This is Israeli leaf dough. Look closely at bottom, center,” Lefort said, apparently referring to the Hebrew.

The National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, or BNVCA, on June 9 denounced what it called “discrimination” that shows “how pro-Palestinian activists are calling for a blanket boycott of anything Jewish, though they pretend to target settlement goods.” Lefort denied that he had promoted a boycott, saying he merely “drew the attention of consumers to the product’s origins.”

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