A leading left-wing French presidential candidate has said that he would deploy the French Navy to defend ships heading for Gaza.
Speaking at a rally of supporters, Jean-Luc Mélenchon claimed that Israel’s ambassador to France had suggested that he would prefer that anyone would be elected to the country’s presidency other than him.
Nous agirons frontalement au secours des Palestiniens, à la fois contre le génocide à Gaza et contre l’annexion progressive de la Cisjordanie.
— Jean-Luc Mélenchon (@JLMelenchon) November 7, 2026
Les navires français, s’il le fallait, escorteront les flottilles de citoyens mobilisés pour faire valoir leurs droits.
Nous… pic.twitter.com/7KAMXOjWf0
“Well, I reply to him that indeed, if he is still there, in France, we will act head-on to help the Palestinians, not only against the genocide in Gaza, but against the gradual annexation of the West Bank”, he said.
He continued: “French ships, much like those from Italy and Spain, if necessary, will escort the flotillas of mobilised citizens to assert the rights of the people. “We do not accept the gradual annexation of the West Bank, nor of southern Lebanon, nor of the Golan Heights. And we will concretely organise the mobilisation against the extension of cruelties to the Christian communities under siege and persecuted in Palestine and in Lebanon”.
In October last year, Italian and Spanish navies partially escorted the flotilla of activists following an apparent drone attack.
Candidates from Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise (LFI) party have made headlines for their anti-Israel positioning.
In 2024, Rima Hassan, a member of the European Parliament, was accused of suggesting that French citizens should be allowed to support terrorist organisations like Hamas.
She said that if French citizens were able to serve in the IDF, they should similarly be free to join the “Palestinian armed resistance”.
The Syrian-born French politician was expelled from Israel in June 2025 after attempting to enter Gaza in another flotilla.
The French presidential elections are scheduled for April 2027.
Some opinion polls had suggested that Mélenchon may be able to make it through to the second stage of the election as one of the two most popular candidates.
However, several of his political rivals accused him of fuelling the riots which have plagued many French cities.
Last month, the country’s prime minister Sebastien Lecornu told an LFI lawmaker that the party's "political agenda of instilling violence and chaos in the country was now on full display".
Mélenchon has unsuccessfully attempted to run for the French presidency on three occasions.
However, in 2024, his party performed successfully in the country’s parliamentary elections, leading to concern among France’s Jewish community as the LFI leader has been accused of underplaying antisemitism, dog whistling, and playing into antisemitic stereotypes – which he has denied.
A spokesperson from the European Jewish Congress (EJC) told the JC at the time that LFI’s success “is a serious cause for concern due to Mélenchon’s repeated antisemitic statements and targeting of French Jewish organisations”. They continued: “The decision of other left-wing parties to align with the LFI in these elections represents an abandonment of French Jews at a time when they are increasingly threatened by the far-left in the public sphere”.
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