Leaders of the French Jewish community have linked Roland Dumas's comments to anti-Semitic rhetoric used by National Front leader Le Pen
Leaders of the French Jewish community have linked Roland Dumas's comments to anti-Semitic rhetoric used by National Front leader Le Pen Reuters

Leaders of the French Jewish community have taken to social media to voice their disgust after a former French foreign minister claimed that Prime Minister Manuel Valls was under "Jewish influence".

Roland Dumas, a former cabinet minister in the socialist government of Francois Mitterrand, said that Valls has "personal alliances", and is under Jewish "influence" of his wife Anne Gravoin, a celebrated violinist of Jewish origin.

Following the comments, Roger Cukierman, the president of the Crif (Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France), French Jewry's political umbrella organisation tweeted: "I am disgusted by Roland Dumas' shameful comments."

Cukierman then related Dumas' comments to controversial figures in France.

"Dumas holds an anti-Semitic rhetoric in line with what we hear from the mouth of Soral, Dieudonné, Jean-Marie Le Pen and others," he tweeted.

Soral, who is the author of several right-wing, polemical essays and Dieudonné, a controversial French comic, are often accused of anti-Semitism. Jean-Marie Le Pen is a former leader of the highly controversial and right-wing party, Front National.

Le Pen had his parliamentary immunity revoked in 1997 after making negationist remarks about the Holocaust -- for which he was later convicted.

Cukierman then accused Dumas of allegedly being "friends with Vergès [...] and the boss of the Syrian secret services".

A controversial lawyer, Jacques Vergès, who died in August 2013, defended unpopular figures such as Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie and Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy.

Meanwhile, the Crif also tweeted a picture of Roland Dumas surrounded by Soral, Dieudonné and Bruno Gollnisch, the Front National's former deputy leader.

Above the picture, a headline reads: "Et vous, Roland Dumas, sous quelles influences etes vous" (And you, Roland Dumas, under which influence are you?).

The picture was tweeted by the French Jewry's political umbrella organisation on Twitter
The picture was tweeted by the French Jewry's political umbrella organisation on Twitter Twitter

Roland Dumas, who served as president of the Constitutional Court, said in an interview with BFMTV channel: "Everyone knows that he is married to someone... someone very good who has an influence on him," he said.

Asked whether Valls is under Jewish influence, Dumas said: "Probably, I think so."

"Of course [he is influenced by his wife] Why not? Why not tell?" he continued.