French President Emmanuel Macron is resisting pressure to appoint a left-wing prime minister, as the political deadlock plaguing the country since its parliamentary election in July continues.

By keeping a left-wing alliance out of government, Macron has blocked from power the far-left France Unbowed (LFI), a party that 92% of French Jews think is antisemitic, according to a recent survey by the American Jewish Committee Europe.

The French president is tasked with choosing a prime minister and a cabinet following a parliamentary election, and that government is then put to a vote in the National Assembly. In last month’s legislative election, the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) coalition won a 190-seat plurality of the National Assembly’s 577 seats — far short of a working majority. Centrist and right-wing parties said they would vote against an NFP government.

NFP is made up of LFI, socialists, communists and Greens who came together ahead of this year’s election to form an alliance meant to block the far-right National Rally from taking power. 

Macron said on Monday that choosing a cabinet led by NFP would threaten “institutional stability,” and would be blocked by the other factions making up a majority of parliament. LFI leaders called Macron’s remarks an “anti-democratic coup” and vowed to impeach him. 

American Jewish Committee Europe Managing Director Simone Rodan-Benzaquen said that Macron’s leverage is a result of NFP lacking a legislative majority.

“Any government involving LFI or even just relying on their support would be quickly brought down,” she said. 

Emmanuel Navon, CEO of ELNET, an organization promoting relations between Israel and Europe, said that Macron can’t have LFI in his government “because their platform is insane.”

“France today has debt that is 120% of its GDP,” Navon said. “It is getting trouble with the European Commission, which is treating France almost like Greece after the financial crisis of 2008-2009. The far left wants to double and triple the deficit; they’re insane … French government bonds are like junk bonds and LFI wants to make France like Venezuela.” 

LFI also has a history of antisemitism. The party’s leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, disregarded chants of “Dirty Jews” at a rally as “gossip” that did not need to be addressed. He also accused Jews of killing Jesus, called French Jewish umbrella organization CRIF one of the “aggressive communities that lecture the country” and said the chief rabbi of the U.K. was behind a campaign against former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has also peddled in antisemitic remarks.

The party called the Oct. 7 attack on Israel an “armed offensive by Palestinian forces” against Israel’s “policy of occupation.” Mélenchon’s deputy Daniele Obono called Hamas a “resistance movement” and Mélenchon stood by a LFI member of the European Parliament who called the Oct. 7 attack a “legitimate action.” 

The French Jewish community, the second-largest in the Diaspora after the U.S., has faced a spike in antisemitic violence since Hamas attacked Israel last year, yet Mélenchon declined to join a massive march against antisemitism in Paris, claiming it was an expression of “unconditional support for the massacre” of Palestinians.

“In terms of antisemitism,” Navon said, “there’s no way [Macron] can bring these people into government … If [LFI] would somehow reach positions of power, even if they wouldn’t form the government, it would definitely be a redline for the Jewish community.”

Rodan-Benzaquen called LFI “a structurally antisemitic party, embedding anti-Israel and antisemitic policies into their platform to appeal to certain voter groups. Macron and Prime Minister [Gabriel] Attal made it clear … that both the far-right and far-left must be countered due to their positions on these issues.” 

NFP’s success caused “deep concern within the Jewish community,” Rodan-Benzaquen said, noting the AJC survey finding that 92% of French Jews view LFI as contributing to antisemitism in France. 

“The sense of betrayal was especially strong when parties like the Socialists teamed up with LFI, despite their antisemitic positions,” she said. “The implicit message was that antisemitism isn’t taken seriously enough for it to be a clear red line.”

Rodan-Benzaquen said that Macron’s opposition to having LFI in the government comes as “some relief” to the French Jewish community.

Navon called the French far-left “completely unrestrained.”

On Saturday, a man wearing a keffiyeh and a Palestinian flag set fire to the doors of the Beth Yaacov synagogue in La Grande Motte, a town in the south of France. He was arrested after a gunfight. 

“[LFI] says the Palestinians are just resisting and Israel is a horror,” Navon said. “Then you have a terror attack against a synagogue, and they say ‘it’s terrible, Jews shouldn’t be attacked.’ But they keep saying Jews and Israel are the same thing.”

For example, Navon noted that France’s Chief Rabbi Haim Korsia is facing an official complaint from an LFI lawmaker for “supporting genocide and crimes against humanity,” a criminal offense in France that could carry a prison sentence of up to five years and a 40,000 Euro fine.

The complaint came after Korsia defended the IDF’s actions in a televised interview on Monday, saying: “I have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of in how Israel is conducting the fighting … I’m never uncomfortable with a policy that consists of defending one’s citizens.” He also said that Israel should “get the job done” in Gaza.

Navon said that LFI is “directing their ire at the chief rabbi, and it’s very telling. Now you’re not even allowed to say [the war in Gaza] is not genocide – they want to make that illegal. These people are really insane.”

In terms of France-Israel relations, Navon explained that the French president is in charge of foreign policy and defense, so LFI “wouldn’t have had an impact,” nor does the current political gridlock.

“Such a government would definitely try to cut military ties with Israel, but in any case Macron would still have the last word on foreign affairs and defense,” Navon stated.

The ELNET CEO said that Macron only had himself to blame for his current political predicament.

“Going to a snap election was absurd and made no sense,” Navon said. “It’s typical Macron. He doesn’t consult with anybody … He had a narrow majority; he could have still governed … but now he completely lost his majority and he has a hung parliament and it’s his fault. There was no reason to call a snap election.” 

Meanwhile, Mélenchon is facing some pushback from the French moderate left. Raphaël Glucksmann, who led the French center-left bloc in the European Parliament to the successful result that pushed Macron to call an election, told Le Point that French social democrats should look to the U.K. for its next steps. 

“By turning the page on Corbyn, British Labour allowed itself to turn the page on right-wing populism. We’re going to do that here,” Glucksmann, whose father is Jewish, said.

Glucksmann has condemned the Oct. 7 attack, saying that “nothing justifies the horror of massacred civilians,” as well as “the sickening calls for Israel’s destruction … and the abject dehumanization of Palestinians by Israeli leaders.” He also denounced Melenchon’s claim that antisemitism in France is a “marginal” phenomenon, saying “this hatred has not disappeared.”