The moment retired French army general Dominique Delawarde (l) was cut off by TV presenter Jean-Marc Morandini for making antisemitic comments. Photo: Screenshot

A retired French army general is facing possible criminal charges following an appearance on a popular TV show in which he let out a crudely antisemitic “dog whistle” in front of a shocked presenter.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday that it was opening an investigation into Gen. Dominique Delawarde, following his comments last Friday on the “Morandini Live” program on French broadcaster CNews.

Delawarde made his inflammatory remarks during a live exchange about ownership of the media. Smiling broadly, he told journalist Claude Posternak, “You know who controls the media pack in the world and in France. Who controls the Washington Post, the New York Times, BFMTV and all the newspapers.”

Delawarde then added sarcastically: “Who are these people?”

Pressed by Posternak as to whom he was referring, Delawarde answered, “This is a community that you know very well.” At this point, the program’s main presenter, Jean-Marc Morandini, intervened to take Delawarde off the air.

French Jewish organizations denounced the former general’s comment. Delawarde had shown “his true face — racist and antisemitic,” the French Union of Jewish Students (UEJF) tweeted.

Delawarde is no stranger to political controversy. In Nov. 2020, he endorsed former US President Donald Trump’s baseless claim that the American presidential election had been rigged, despite the “attempts of the western media pack — and we know who controls them — to convince me otherwise.”

Delawarde was also a signatory to a statement published by 20 former French generals in April. The group decried the supposed “disintegration” of France and pledged to “support policies which will take into consideration the safeguarding of the nation” — a statement that was seen by some critics as hinting at a military coup.