From the Liveblog of
Thursday, March 20, 2025
Defending antisemitism confab invites, minister says Europe’s far-right ‘supports us the most’
Zev Stub is the Times of Israel's Diaspora Affairs correspondent.
Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli says European Jews should be more worried about Islamic extremism than the far-right, defending his decision to invite far-right European politicians to Israel’s upcoming conference on combating antisemitism.
“The real threat to European Jewry is radical Islam, not the right,” Chikli tells Israel Hayom in an interview published this morning.
Chikli blames the left-wing newspaper Haaretz for pushing a campaign that has led to a wave of cancellations of conference participants ahead of the Jerusalem event planned for March 26-27.
Among high-profile figures to pull out have been Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, and others.
Chikli criticizes them for “delegitimizing the people who support us the most,” calling it a “terrible injustice.”
“How can we boycott people who come to a conference against antisemitism in the State of Israel?” Chikli asks.
Chikli tells Israel Hayom that while many of the political parties in question have histories rooted in racism, they are currently fighting against antisemitism.
For example, Jordan Bardella, president of the French National Rally party founded by noted antisemite and Holocaust denier Jean-Marie Le Pen, recently challenged the European Union about the connection between UNRWA and Hamas, and has spoken out against a Palestinian state after October 7, Chikli says.
Bardella also condemned arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, Chikli notes.
In contrast, he says, French President Emmanuel Macron is “weak” and a “disappointment for Israel.”
On Wednesday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog offered to hold a private meeting with world Jewish leaders at his home the night before the main event, without those controversial figures, in an effort to reduce tensions.
