Thomas Portes (born 18 November 1985) is a French politician of

La France Insoumise La France Insoumise (LFI or FI; , ) is a left-wing political party in France. It was launched in 2016 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, then a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and former co-president of the Left Party (PG). It aims to implement th ...

who has been representing Seine-Saint-Denis's 3rd constituency in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

since

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. In the

2022 French legislative election Legislative elections in France, Legislative elections were held in France on 12 and 19 June 2022 to elect the 577 Deputy (France), members of the 16th National Assembly (France), National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic. Th ...

unseated Unseating is a political term which refers to a legislator who loses their seat in an election. A legislator who is unseated loses the right to sit in a legislative chamber. A landslide victory results in many legislators being unseated. Austral ...

En Marche! Renaissance (RE) is a List of political parties in France, political party in France that is typically described as liberalism, liberal and centrist or centre-right. The party was originally known as (EM) and later (, LREM, LaREM or REM), be ...

MP Patrice Anato. In February 2023, Portes created controversy when he posted a photo on

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of himself stepping with his foot placed atop a balloon bearing the image of the Minister of Labor

Olivier Dussopt Olivier Dussopt (; born 16 August 1978) is a French politician who served as minister of labour, employment and integration in the government of prime minister Élisabeth Borne from 2022 to 2024. He previously served as minister of public actio ...

, of whom he was critical."LFI deputy Thomas Portes excluded from the Assembly for 15 days after the controversial photo,"
''Le Parisien''. In response, and after he failed to remove the image from Twitter as requested, he was suspended for two weeks from the lower house. Portes again sparked controversy when he declared at a rally that

Israelis Israelis (; ) are the Israeli citizenship law, citizens and nationals of the Israel, State of Israel. The country's populace is composed primarily of Israeli Jews, Jews and Arab citizens of Israel, Arabs, who respectively account for 75 percen ...

athletes were not welcome at the

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. The remarks were condemned by the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions. French Interior Minister

Gérald Darmanin Gérald Moussa Jean Darmanin (; born 11 October 1982) is a French politician serving as Minister of Justice (France), Minister of Justice in the Bayrou government. He previously served as Minister of the Interior (France), Minister of the Inter ...

said the remarks obviously hinted at

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, and Mayor of

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Christian Estrosi Christian Paul Gilbert Estrosi (born 1 July 1955) is a French sportsman and politician and the Mayor of Nice since 2017, previously holding the office from 2008 to 2016. A former professional motorcyclist, he served as a government minister und ...

called for the dissolution of the LFI. Karen Taieb, a deputy mayor of Paris, said Portes was "a danger and a disgrace" who was "advocating hatred,"

Socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

Jérôme Guedj Jérôme Guedj (born 23 January 1972) is a French politician. He is a member of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party and is the member of the Essonne's 6th constituency, sixth constituency of Essonne, List of presidents of departmental ...

posted on X: “Of course Israeli athletes are welcome...,” and French foreign minister

Stéphane Séjourné Stéphane Séjourné (; born 26 March 1985) is a French politician of Renaissance who currently serves as Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy. He served as Minister for Europe and Foreign ...

said at a meeting with EU foreign ministers: "I want to say on behalf of France, to the Israeli delegation, we welcome you to France for these Olympic Games.""France Unbowed MP sparks outrage by saying Israeli Olympians not welcome; Thomas Portes accused of ‘putting a target on the backs of Israeli athletes’ with remarks at protest against Gaza war,"
''The Guardian''.

References

1985 births Living people University of Bordeaux alumni People from Tarn (department) Members of Parliament for Seine-Saint-Denis Deputies of the 16th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 17th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic La France Insoumise politicians French trade unionists Génération.s politicians Politicians from Occitania (administrative region) {{SeineMarne-politician-stub

See also

References