Francois Fillon, the candidate of Les Republicains, who campaign has been self-destructing as Fillon is mired in scandals, has had to publicly apologize for some genius in his party who tweeted an anti-Semitic caricature of Emmanuel Macron, the candidate presently leading in the polls. The cartoon is described by the BBC thus:

“The caricature of Mr Macron, Mr Fillon’s main rival, showed the candidate with a hooked nose, wearing a top hat and carrying a red sickle with which he was cutting a cigar…Mr Macron is not Jewish but the image appeared to take aim at his past in banking. Critics said it was reminiscent of anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda.”

Just to emphasize, it was not Marine Le Pen and the National Front–whose founder, Mme. Le Pen’s father, was an unapologetic anti-Semite–behind this caricature, but rather the mainstream center-right party, presently known as Les Republicains after a name change about a year ago.

Here’s an account in French in Le Point

The caricature is shown here.

France has a complicated history regarding its treatment of Jews–a visit to the Jewish museum in Paris provides a detailed account for anyone who might visit. The Revolution brought emancipation, and Napoleon’s conquests brought emancipation of Jews in the conquered countries. (This was reversed as soon as the French were expelled.) Yet notorious episodes of antisemitism in France have occurred, such as the Dreyfus affair of the late 19th century. France’s defeat by Germany in 1940 brought antisemites out of the woodwork, of course.