Jean Messiha (French pronunciation:[ʒɑ̃mesja]; born Hossam Boutros Messiha, Arabic: حسام بطرس مسيحة, 10 September 1970) is an Egyptian-born French far-right economist, media personality, and formerly a politician and senior civil servant. He was appointed Deputy Undersecretary of Management at the Ministry of Defence in 2014 before he joined the National Front (FN) in 2016, when he became spokesman of Horaces, a group of high-ranking civil servants and business executives who meet once a month to discuss the party platform. Messiha stood as a candidate in the 2017 legislative election in the 4th constituency of the Aisnedepartment.
In 2020, he left the party to assume the presidency of the Apollon Institute, a far-right think tank.[1] In 2022, Messiha joined presidential candidate Éric Zemmour's newly-founded Reconquête party and became its spokesman.
Early life
Messiha was born Hossam Boutros Messiha in 1970 in Cairo, Egypt, to a family of Coptic Christians;[2] his father was a diplomat.[3][4] He lived in Bogotá, Colombia from the age of 3 to 7.[2] At the age of 8, he arrived with his family in France, reportedly "not speaking a word of French". He then grew up in Mulhouse.[3][4] In 1990, upon his naturalisation as a French citizen, he changed his first name to Jean.
Messiha began his career as a high-ranking civil servant in 2005.[4] He was appointed as Deputy Undersecretary of Management at the Ministry of Defence in 2014.[4]
Messiha became an advisor to National Rally leader Marine Le Pen in 2014.[4] In May 2016, he became the spokesman of the "Horaces", a group of high-ranking civil servants and business executives, supporting Marine Le Pen, who meet once a month and discuss the political platform of the National Rally.[4][3][5] While the group announces more than 155 members, Messiha is the only one whose name has been publicly known so far.[5] According to Dominique Albertini of Libération, Messiha's role within the National Rally is to represent "the drawing power of [the party] towards high-ranking civil servants".[4]
Messiha has asserted his belief in Renaud Camus's Great Replacement conspiracy theory, whereby Christian populations are being "replaced" through non-European immigration, specifically from Muslim and African countries.[3] On social media, he has expressed that Islam is at odds with France's republican system.[3] He is also a critic of the European Union.[2]
In November 2020, several news outlets reported that Messiha was going to leave the National Rally.[7][8][9] This was later confirmed by Messiha, who announced his departure in an interview published in Valeurs actuelles.[10] In March 2021, Jean Messiha made the headlines[citation needed] in affirming the existence of a "black privilege" during the 46th César Awards.[11][better source needed]
According to the news website Mediapart, he continued to receive salaries from the Defense ministry from 2017 to 2022.[12]
On 8 November 2023 Arcom decided to classify Jean Mesiha as “personalities of various right-wingers”. Speaking time on television sets is therefore deducted from the allocated time.[13]
Media presence and activism
Since the late 2010s, the Messiha's fame grows in France, mainly due to his interventions in the TV shows of C8 and CNews and his activities on social networks.
In 2020, the French website Arrêt sur images indicates Messiha is "the favourite RN's member of Canal+ group".[14] Moreover, his debate with Yassine Belattar has exceed 700 000 views on Youtube.[14]
Speaking enormously and very often on the social networks, his number of subscribers on Twitter increased from 40 000 in 2019[15] to 110 000 in 2020.[16] In August 2021, his Twitter account has been suspended because of his words judged hateful.[17] However, it has been reactivated in January 2023 following the acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk.
Jean Messiha fortune Jean Messiha, figure éminente des médias et de la politique française, est connu pour ses opinions d’extrême droite et sa longue carrière d’économiste, de fonctionnaire et de commentateur. Né Hossam Boutros Messiha au Caire, en Égypte, le 10 septembre 1970, Messiha est ensuite devenu citoyen français et a adopté le nom de Jean lors de sa naturalisation en 1990.