French opposition lawmakers call for boycott of TV channel over Netanyahu interview

ANKARA

Opposition lawmakers in France have called for a boycott of the French television channel LCI after it aired an interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.

The interview was featured on Le 20h de Darius Rochebin, a program on LCI, which is part of the TF1 Group.

Opposition politicians and social media users expressed outrage, labeling Netanyahu a “butcher,” “genocidal” and a “war criminal.”

They condemned the channel for providing a platform to Netanyahu, whom they accuse of serious human rights violations against Palestinians.

Antoine Leaument, a lawmaker from the far-left La France Insoumise (France Unbowed, LFI) party, expressed his displeasure on X.

He highlighted the irony of a lawmaker being recently sanctioned in the National Assembly for displaying a Palestinian flag while Netanyahu, the person directing the “bombing and killing” of these people, was invited to speak on a major television channel.

Thomas Portes, another LFI lawmaker, accused the French channel of “rolling out the red carpet for a war criminal,” describing the invitation to Netanyahu as “shameful” given the ongoing violence against the Palestinian people.

Manon Aubry, a member of the European Parliament from the LFI party, also took to X to criticize TF1.

She pointed out that despite an application for an arrest warrant against Netanyahu by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the channel still chose to feature him on their program.

The calls for a boycott have resonated widely, with many X users calling for a protest in front of the channel’s offices before the program was set to air.

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