French Far-Left leader accuses Jews of “sectarianism.”

JTA reported that a leader of the French far-left accused French Jews of inciting violence against him and promoting “violent and aggressive sectarianism.”

Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the France Unbowed party, attacked the CRIF federation of Jewish communities on Sunday during a televised interview with France Inter.

“Sectarianism’s always been a problem for the republican idea,” said Melenchon. “Take CRIF. It practices blatant, violent and aggressive sectarianism, namely against me, right? To the point of encouraging people to hit me during a demonstration like the one for Mirelle Knol.”

The specific event referred too involved a memorial to Mirelle Knol a Holocaust survivor who was murdered in her Paris apartment last year, allegedly by a Muslim neighbor. organizers asked Melenchon and the leader of the right-wing National Rally party, Marine Le Pen, not to attend a commemorative march for Knol. Both politicians came to the march anyway, where participants booed them until police escorted them away.

CRIF did not call for violence and none occurred at the event. The group also condemned the booing.