In some troubling news, far-right French leader Marine Le Pen, who placed third in the French presidential elections in May, called for a ban on kippot and headscarfs in public. In an interview on Friday with Le Monde, the daughter of the infamous French politician Jean-Marie Le Pen (who wasn’t nearly as adept at masking his anti-Semitism) said that she believes that religious headwear should be banned in places like stores, public transportation, and on the streets.
Le Pen, who shocked the French elite by winning almost 18% in the first round of this year’s presidential vote, also repeated calls for bans on public prayers, kosher and halal foods in schools and foreign government financing of mosques in France.
With talk of bans on circumcision and ritual slaughter already making the rounds across Europe, this latest salvo in the battle against the religious customs of over a billion people comes as an especially troubling time.
Adam Chandler was previously a staff writer at Tablet. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, Esquire, New York, and elsewhere. He tweets @allmychandler.