France: Dieudonné to form a political party named 'National Reconciliation'

Dieudonné's previous poitical party,
Liste antisioniste - "for the
liberation of Europe"

Dieudonne has 10 convictions for inciting racial hatred against Jews, according to CRIF. He also invented the quenelle, a Nazi-like gesture that many have deemed anti-Semitic, and the term “shoananas,” a mash-up of the Hebrew word for the Holocaust and the French word for pineapple that is used to suggest that the genocide never happened without explicitly violating French laws.

Earlier this year, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls — then the interior minister — advised mayors to ban Dieudonne’s shows, leading to their cancellation. The comedian’s replacement routine featured less anti-Semitic material.

Dieudonne and the far-right Holocaust denier Alain Soral recently decided to form a political party, the news site Mediapart.fr reported Tuesday.

Last week, Dieudonne was indicted for fraud, money laundering and abuse of public funds, Le Monde reported. It is believed that Dieudonne, who declared he had no money to pay fines he received for his hate speech, transferred more than $500,000 to Cameroon while he declared himself to be insolvent.

More: JTA and Europe-Israël (French)