An Israeli minister has endorsed Marine Le Pen for president of France, saying she would be an “excellent” leader for the country as her right-wing party seeks to make gains in the current election.
“It is very good for Israel that he will be the president of France, with 10 exclamation points,” Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli said on Tuesday, later indicating that his views may be shared by other members of the Israeli leadership.
“Netanyahu and I have the same opinion,” he said when asked if the Israeli prime minister shared his views, according to The Times of Israel. The outlet stressed that it is unclear what prompted Chikli to discuss Le Pen.
Le Pen’s national rally exceeded expectations in the European parliamentary elections, defeating the centrist party of French President Emmanuel Macron and asking him to call a snap election because he feels it is creating tension in the country if voters no longer trust his party and its policies.
FRANCE’S RIGHT-WING NATIONAL RALLY looks set to seize new electoral gains
Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli spoke during the 8th Annual National Summit of the Israeli American Council (IAC) on January 19, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (Shahar Azran/Getty Images)
Gamble has thus far played in the hands of the National Rally, and continues to do well in the first round of its parliamentary elections, as it is in the European elections. The second and final round of the country’s parliamentary elections began on Sunday.
Le Pen has failed to become president three times – in 2012, 2017 and 2022, increasing her rank and power each time during the decade. His most recent run saw him win 41.5% of the vote against Macron.
Some speculate that the cultural issues at the heart of the election will lead the National Rally – and potentially, in the 2027 presidential election, Le Pen – to take control of the country. Immigration has proven a strong issue for right-wing parties across Europe, with the party’s pushback pointing to new protests and antisemitic attacks.
COMPETING TO BLOCK THE ELECTORAL MOMENTUM OF THE FRENCH RIGHT-WING NATIONAL PARTY
France’s far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party leader and MP Marine Le Pen speak to the press at party headquarters after the first results of the second round of French regional elections in Nanterre on June 27, 2021. (Geoffroy van der Hasselt/AFP via Getty Images)
Serge Klarsfeld, the famous Nazi hunter, announced last week that he would throw his weight behind the National Rally, telling the French outlet LCI that if choosing between “the antisemitic party and the pro-Jewish party, I would choose the pro-Jewish party.” referring to the National Rally , according to Le Monde.
Antisemitism has come into sharp focus in the election after the alleged gang rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl that many have cast as a hate crime. Two minors arrested in the suburbs of Paris have been charged with preliminary charges of the crime, with prosecutors saying the rape was religiously motivated, ABC News reported.
Rabbi Moshe Sebbag of the Grande Synagogue in Paris said the election showed that French Jews “have no future” in France, telling The Jerusalem Post that he urged “every young person to move to Israel or a safer country. ”
MACRON ON EDGE AS FRANCE’S RIGHT-WING NATIONAL RALLY PARTY GETS MOMENTUM IN FIRST ROUND OF ELECTIONS
Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld, left, and Beate Klarsfeld arrive to attend a national tribute ceremony at the Pantheon for the late Holocaust survivor Simone Veil and her late husband, Antoine Veil, in Paris on July 1, 2018. (Photo by Ludovic Marin/Pool via AP)
Sebbeg argued that although the National Rally of the right has voiced support for the defense of Israel against Hamas after the October 7 attack, the color of the party comes from a place of antisemitism that continues to hinder him.
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Jean-Marie Le Pen has been repeatedly accused of antisemitic hate speech and making statements denigrating the Holocaust, according to The Guardian, which led Marine Le Pen to distance herself and the party from its founder – her father.
“Many Ashkenazi Jewish families here since before World War II couldn’t think of voting for the National Rally, but the Left has been antisemitic in recent times,” Sebbag said. “The Jews are in the middle, because they don’t know who hates them more.”
