French far-right leader Bardella refutes anti-Semitism allegations

By Al Jazeera Staff and Reuters. Published On 28 Sep 202628 Sep 2026.

What happened

Notably, the president of France's far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally or RN), Jordan Bardella, has denied allegations of anti-Semitism.

Bardella's refutation on Monday followed the publication of a report by the Mediapart outlet alleging that the politician sent anti-Semitic private messages a decade ago. The report emerged shortly after RN secured a record 14 seats in the Senate, confirming its solid prospects ahead of presidential elections early next year.

Mediapart wrote that in a chat, Bardella had remarked: "The Jew has to dominate other peoples, crush them, and rob them; a Zionist is necessarily a Jew, and fundamentally so."

The bottom line

For now, french far-right leader Bardella refutes anti remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.