The left-wing French party La France Insoumise (LFI) has extensive ties to Islamist elements, several French journalists have testified in recent weeks. The testimonies have been presented to the French National Assembly, which has launched a parliamentary commission of inquiry on the links between LFI and Islamist networks.
Amid the inquiry, Syrian-French journalist Omar Youssef Souleimane published a book on the same topic. News of the upcoming novel caused panic in LFI circles, who attempted to, by legal means, acquire a copy prior to it being published but did not succeed. “The Islamists use LFI as a Trojan horse to have political interests and get to parliament,” he said. “For its part, LFI is using the Islamists. They are taking Muslims in France as hostages for electoral reasons.”
He told Le Point that “The Insoumise elected officials interviewed by the Arab media never have a word of condemnation of terrorism.”
Souleimane testified to parliament that, following the October 7 massacre, he attended several pro-Palestine demonstrations organized either directly by La France Insoumise or by an “Islamist antisemitic association” called Urgence Palestine. UP was started by a man named Omar Al-Soumi the day after the massacre.
“This same person, Omar Al-Soumi, organizes these demonstrations side by side with deputies like Mathilde Panot and other deputies who are regularly present at these demonstrations.” Souleimane then spoke about a second organization named Perspective Musulmanes, whose two most active members – Ahmed Ibrahim and Maria de Cartena – deem the “war on terror” a war against Islam. Both also regularly appear with LFI deputies.
Souleimane stressed that he has no issue with anyone who demonstrates in good faith and that what he seeks to expose are instead those “who organize these demonstrations and who has [have] an Islamic political project behind them.”
One of the LFI deputies most active in these demonstrations is Thomas Portes, Souleimane said. Portes recently traveled to Lebanon with Salah Amouri, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is a group considered a terrorist organization in Europe. This has been previously reported on by The Jerusalem Post.
'It has become normalized to express the idea of destroying a state called Israel'
Furthermore, Souleimane also said that in most of the demonstrations organized – whether by La France Insoumise, UP, or other Palestinian associations – “it has become normalized to express the idea of destroying a state called Israel,” which he condemns as antisemitism. During her hearing before the inquiry commission, another journalist, Nora Bussigny, revealed that there has been an Islamist infiltration project targeting LFI ahead of the municipal elections.
Among others, Bussigny investigated two individuals: Elias d’Imzalène and Wissam Xelka. She referred to d’Imzalene – a French Muslim influencer – as a “militant preacher who was tried for incitement to terrorism because he called for an intifada from Paris to Gaza.”
According to Bussigny, the two said it was “necessary to identify those who would be their potential allies [in LFI], to put them in place, and to radicalize them day by day.”
She added that they were specifically referring to LFI leader Jean-Luc Melénchon. While some of these figures view Mélenchon as ‘Islamophobic,’ they continue to invest in LFI as a party because they believe it is the party that could “best defend their interests,” she added.
But Andréa Kotarac, a spokesperson for the National Assembly party, said, “The link between LFI and Islamism, for my part, I think it is proven.”