France's far-right RN disowns candidate over anti-Semitic post
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France's far-right National Rally (RN) on Wednesday withdrew support for one of its candidates in a looming legislative election over an anti-Semitic social media message posted in 2018.
President Emmanuel Macron called national polls following the RN's victory in European elections. The first round is set to take place on June 30. Joseph Martin was supposed to be an RN candidate for the national assembly for the northwestern department of Morbihan.
According to France's Liberation newspaper, Martin wrote on social media in October 2018 that "gas (had) done justice to the victims of the Shoah".
The publication was deleted mid-day on Wednesday.
"He no longer has the support of the National Rally, he is suspended and will be summoned with a view to his exclusion," an RN spokesperson told AFP, adding it was too late withdraw Martin's candidacy.
Martin stood as an RN candidate in 2022 legislative elections. He won 15.35 percent of the vote in the first round, but failed to qualify for the second round.
The French Jewish community is largest of any country outside Israel and the United States.
Macron on Wednesday denounced the "scourge of anti-Semitism" after authorities charged two 13-year-old boys with the gang rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl in a Paris suburb.
The attack, suspected to have been motivated by anti-Semitism, has shocked the Jewish community and added to tensions ahead of the snap election that could bring the RN to power for the first time.