Roundup of the Vél d’Hiv: after her controversial tweet, Mathilde Panot defends herself

After the controversy, it’s time for the defense: “This tweet is there to sound the alarm,” said LFI MP Mathilde Panot on Monday at the microphone of France Info. After a weekend of comments and criticism, the chosen one explained the controversy that has swelled since her famous message. A tweet released on the eve of a trip by Emmanuel Macron this Sunday to Pithiviers station (Loiret), to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Rafle du Vel d’Hiv and inaugurate a new place of memory in the company of survivors of the deportation.

???? “A commemoration is also a time when we must point out responsibilities. What I wanted to say with this tweet is that there are 89 RN deputies in the Assembly and that there is not admissible as the president had said in 2018 to pay tribute to Pétain.” pic.twitter.com/9vls598RBk

— franceinfo (@franceinfo) July 18, 2022

Before this memorial sequence, the rebellious deputy had therefore tweeted: “80 years ago, the collaborationists of the Vichy regime organized the Vel d’Hiv roundup. Do not forget these crimes, today more than ever, with a President of the Republic who honors Pétain and 89 RN deputies! The LFI leader then criticized the tribute that the president wanted to pay to Pétain in 2018.

80 years ago, the collaborationists of the Vichy regime organized the roundup of #VeldHiv
Do not forget these crimes, today more than ever, with a President of the Republic who honors Pétain and 89 RN deputies!

— Mathilde Panot (@MathildePanot) July 16, 2022

After the publication of this tweet, many voices within the presidential majority were raised, castigating the words of Mathilde Panot and demanding the deletion of the tweet.

“Where do you see me comparing Macron and Pétain? »

The MP made a point of clarifying her remarks on Monday July 18: “Where do you see that I am comparing Macron and Pétain? Of course not Emmanuel Macron is not Philippe Pétain, ”she said. Continuing her defense, she said: “Tweeting is both a way of obviously paying tribute to those people who died because they were Jewish, and also a way of sounding the alarm about the political moment we are living in. »

A commemoration is a “moment of homage” to the victims, and “a question around responsibilities is posed” she stated. “If there is a duty of memory, there is also a duty of vigilance regarding the resurgence of the past in our present. What I wanted to say with this tweet is that there are 89 RN deputies in the Assembly, and that we must always continue the fight against far-right, racist and anti-Semitic theories. It is not admissible, as the president said in 2018, to pay tribute to Pétain. »