Comedian Guillaume Meris received a “warning” from the management of the public radio station Radio France after a skit in which the Israeli prime minister was compared to a “Nazi without a foreskin”, according to AFP.

“I received a warning and will challenge it in court,” said Guillaume Meris, confirming the report by Le Monde. Radio France declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

We are talking about a polemical remark addressed to the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, on the Charlaine Wangoneker show, which was broadcast on Sunday, October 29, on France Inter, one of the group’s stations.

When proposing the idea of ​​a “scary costume” for Halloween, Guillaume Meris mentioned a “Netanyahu costume”, “kind of Nazi, but without the foreskin”.

In a letter sent to Radio France staff on Monday, seen by AFP, the president of the public radio-television group Sybil Weil reiterated “the responsibility of the media, especially a public media like Radio France”. in the context of tensions generated by the conflict in the Middle East.

French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanen said on Sunday that anti-Semitic acts had “exploded” in France since the start of the conflict, recording 1,040 acts.

“This demand for accountability (…) applies to every employee of Radio France, including comedians,” Ms Weil wrote, arguing that “it is not an obstacle to the freedom of expression and the right to caricatures, to which we are very attached.” – let’s turn to insight.”

Humor “is not meant to add division to division,” added the public radio executive, who believes freedom of expression must be accompanied by “the ability to humbly acknowledge an error in judgment.”

“Everyone must be in solidarity with the common interest, must perform their profession with respect for our values, without undermining the public service and its universal vocation. When this is not the case, the sanctions are legal and applied,” explains Sybil Vale, without elaborating on the content of these sanctions.

Last week, France’s broadcasting regulator (Arcom) announced it had been asked to examine the images.

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