The weight of words… then the apologies. Marine Tondelier, leader of the Green Party, has been the subject of controversy since a somewhat clumsy statement about the fate of Green MEP Mélissa Camara, detained in Israel for participating in the humanitarian flotilla to Gaza, and then being expelled from the country by the authorities.
Last week on TF1’s morning show, Marine Tondelier assured Bruce Toussaint that Green MEP Mélissa Camara—who was part of the humanitarian flotilla heading to Gaza—was going to be “deported.” The journalist quickly pointed out that the expression was inappropriate in the context.
Marine Tondelier has been national secretary of the Ecologists since December 2022. – © Daniel Perron / Hans Lucas / AFP
“I said that deportation proceedings were underway, apologizing in advance for this term, which I was embarrassed to utter, but which was the legal term I had in front of me. The word was inappropriate, and, in fact, poorly translated in the documents given to me. I apologize,” Marine Tondelier said on X this Saturday.
“The English word ‘deportation,’ which does not carry the same emotional weight in the Anglo-Saxon world as it does in France, applies to both our French words ‘déportation’ and ‘expulsion.'” Under no circumstances do I wish to promote conflations that are contrary to my values and ethics. I know the weight of history, the importance of the issue of memory, and I hope this controversy will end because it in no way reflects any political truth. My party and I fight daily against the ignominy of confusionism and even anti-Semitism,” she added in her post.
Criticism of the CRIF
Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), considered that Marine Tondelier was committing “both a historical and moral error” by making such comments.
“Deportation, the real kind, tore innocent people from their countries to send them to a planned death. The flotilla participants, on the other hand, are deported to their countries, where they return to their normal lives,” he declared on X, emphasizing the inappropriate nature of the Green leader’s remark.
Mélissa Camara’s deportation proceedings are still ongoing. She is expected to leave Israel this Sunday.
