The speaker of the French parliament accused hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon of having put “a new target on her back” after she made a solidarity visit to Israel this weekend, AFP reports.

Yael Braun-Pivet, 52, travelled to Israel in the aftermath of the Hamas attack on the country this month. Yesterday, Melenchon accused Braun-Pivet, of “camping in Tel-Aviv to encourage the massacre” in Gaza.

“Not in the name of the French people!” he said on X, formerly Twitter.

Speaking to broadcaster France Inter, the speaker said she was “very shocked” and accused Melenchon of using provocative language to denounce her.

“I am convinced that the word ‘camper’ was not chosen by chance and the claim that I favour massacres is once again a new target being put on my back,” she said. “This is very serious.” Braun-Pivet said that when she read “certain” tweets or letters, she felt threatened and could not leave home without police protection.

“I never said that I unconditionally support the government of Israel, but I unconditionally support the existence of Israel,” she said.