how the conflict in the Middle East undermines the unity of the left

POLITICS – A year later, the wounds are still raw. The earthquake of October 7, 2023 continues to produce aftershocks. That day, in the early morning, terrorists dressed in fatigues arrived on motorbikes and vans in southern Israel to massacre an entire population. The toll was terrible: nearly 1,200 people died and 250 were held hostage. Very quickly, reactions poured in from all over the world. Everywhere, the same fear, the same astonishment, the same support for the families of the victims. Within the French political class, the drama quickly turned into a free-for-all and settling of scores. Particularly on the left, where buried resentments have resurfaced.

A few minutes after the announcement of the attacks, France Insoumise, then the leading left-wing contingent in the Assembly, released a press release entitled “Israel-Palestine: for a just and lasting peace, stop the escalation”. The group chaired by Mathilde Panot speaks of a “armed offensive by Palestinian forces led by Hamas” and locates the attacks “in a context of intensification of the Israeli occupation policy in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem”. Jean-Luc Mélenchon published a tweet immediately, in which he said to himself “horrified” and address his ” thoughts “ et sa “compassion to all the distraught populations victims of all this”.

The machine has already started. The rebellious hard core refuses to talk about “terrorism”which would imply the struggle of good against evil argues Mélenchon, and finds himself cornered. And it is not the (hazardous) justifications citing international law that are enough to convince. For socialists, this is a hard bite to swallow. “That some on the left talk about Hamas as the Palestinian armed forces disgusts me. Hamas is a terrorist organization”immediately replies former PS MP Valérie Rabault, without naming anyone. On October 8, Jérôme Guedj was invited to the radio of the Jewish community (RCJ). “It disgusts me to see and note that some people were immediately in a form of relativism, of back-to-back dismissal, of absence of this minimum of compassion which makes up our common humanity”the member for Essonne is indignant. He, the great defender of the union of the left, who a few days earlier demanded a common list for the Europeans, comes to consider that “the question arises” to stay or not in the Nupes.

“Political misconduct”

On October 9, a demonstration in support of Israel was held in Paris, in which the PS participated. Olivier Faure is heckled, the demonstrators accuse him of remaining linked to LFI. The next day, on Public Senate, the First Secretary speaks of a disagreement ” obvious “. “The political fault is not having, from the start, recognized that there was a terrorist act, and having suggested that Hamas could represent the Palestinian people. No, it was not an act of war, it was a terrorist act which deserved clear, firm condemnation.”. He does not (yet) call into question the union of the left, but assures “that there will be explanations to be had” between partners.

However, the rupture has already been consummated. Unitary figures like Clémentine Autain or François Ruffin try to remind us that the differences “are not insurmountable”that common slogans around an immediate ceasefire, a release of the hostages and a two-state solution are possible. But the damage is done. Everyone stands firm on their positions. The rebels respond to criticism of the PS, and accuse it of looking for a pretext to break up the union. “It is unworthy to use an international crisis to justify one’s anti-Nupes positions. It’s a very political debate, which seems completely out of sync. I call on them to be more solemn”then accuses LFI deputy Paul Vannier. Olivier Faure guesses it easily: “These positions will leave their mark”.

If the subject is so divisive for the left, it is because it embraces much broader and structuring themes. And that it echoes many questions that arise in France. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, reactivated on October 7, questions the relationship to violence, questions the anti-colonial method and refers each person to their identity and the way they define themselves. The final nail on the Nupes coffin will therefore be hammered on October 17. That day, meeting in a national council, the socialists decided on a “moratorium” on their participation in Nupes. Way to distance themselves from the rebellious management without making a clear and brutal break. Olivier Faure’s internal opponents, however, would have preferred to definitively cut ties with Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

At the same time, the communists also adopted a resolution aimed at building “a new type of union”. Only the ecologists seem to cling to the Nupes. The deputies led by Cyrielle Châtelain send a letter to their partners, in which they call on them “start up to avoid chaos”. They propose the establishment “a general assembly of all left-wing and environmentalist deputies” to establish « positions communes ». The initiative will remain a dead letter. And Nupes will disappear as quickly as it was born, in the din of the 2022 legislative elections.

For a year, although the embers have died down a little, the subject remains tense. The more than 40,000 deaths in Gaza, the deprivation of water, food and electricity as well as the intensification of bombings have united the left in a denunciation of the abuses of the Israeli army. However, the European election campaign, during which LFI is banking everything on conflict to secure the votes of youth and working-class neighborhoods, is complicating unity. The presence in seventh place on the rebellious list of the Franco-Palestinian jurist Rima Hassan is causing a stir.

Poison lent

As for Raphaël Glucksmann, accused by LFI of being complacent towards Israel, the campaign is becoming unbearable. On May 1st in Saint-Etienne, it was under the cries of “ Palestine will win » that he was attacked and exfiltrated from the union demonstration. He points to the responsibility of LFI, which denies it. In Paris, it is the socialist candidate Emma Rafowicz, president of the Young Socialists, who accuses the “ LFI sphere » of anti-Semitic attacks, against a backdrop of conflations linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For many, the left has reached the point of no return, such is the animosity on the subject. But on Sunday June 9, in the wake of the results of the European elections placing Jordan Bardella far in the lead, Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly. Faced with the RN danger, the left-wing forces are betting on unity for the anticipated legislative elections called immediately.

Within the New Popular Front, negotiations are long. And resentments, particularly on the subject, are difficult to resolve. But Place publique, the Socialist Party, the Greens, the Communist Party and La France insoumise ended up reaching agreement, including on the international and the Middle East. Their shared agenda characterizes Hamas’ actions as “terrorist massacres” and calls for “break with the French government’s guilty support of Netanyahu’s far-right supremacist government to impose an immediate ceasefire in Gaza”. A giant step on the scale of the chapels of the left, but which turns out to be the lowest common denominator for preserving a fragile unity by not offending anyone. Except that for some, the alliance remains impossible.

Like the socialist Jérôme Guedj, who is campaigning in his constituency of Essonne in a separate band. The MP today supports all left-wing initiatives calling for a break with Jean-Luc Mélenchon, with whom he was once close. But from now on, he judges the one who talks about “ the leash of its memberships » as being “ irrecoverable “. A sign among others which shows that minimum agreement on the subject remains particularly fragile on the left. And that the file acts as slow poison for the unit.

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