Israeli minister signals end to decades-long boycott of far-right French party

Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli tweets a clip showing a speech by a leader of a far-right French political party with antisemitic ties, breaking a decades-long boycott of the party by Israeli officials.
Chikli brands the video, in which National Rally president Jordan Bardella speaks out against a two-state solution, as “dramatic” and adds Hebrew subtitles so that Israelis can understand his message.
The party was founded in 1972 by Jean-Marie Le Pen, who has been repeatedly convicted of antisemitic hate speech, and by Pierre Bousequet, a former commander in the Nazi Party’s Waffen-SS.
Since Le Pen’s daughter Marine took the helm in 2011, she has attempted to scrub the party’s past and win mainstream acceptance. She distanced herself from her father’s antisemitic rhetoric and expelled him from the party in 2015. Meanwhile, she has honed in on Muslims — who make up 11 percent of the French population — as a threat to the country.
But even as Marine Le Pen has publicly denounced antisemitism, her supporters still disproportionately harbor antisemitic attitudes, according to some experts.
National Rally is making significant strides toward gaining greater legitimacy. Serge Klarsfeld, a Holocaust survivor and co-founder of the Association of the Descendants of French-Jewish Deportees, supports voting for it to keep out the far-left. He is on record as saying last year that the party had addressed its antisemitic past and is “legitimate.”
Contacted by the Haaretz daily, a spokesman for Chikli says he is “in excellent contact with National Rally and we are thrilled at the prospect of establishing a productive dialogue with them.”
Chikli has also involved himself in American politics, telling Kan radio in April that “if I were an American citizen with the right to vote, I’d vote for [Donald] Trump and Republicans.”
נאום דרמטי של מועמד מפלגת RN (מרין לה פן) לראשות ממשלת צרפת ברדלה: תמכנו לאורך השנים בפתרון שתי המדינות, אולם העמדה הזו התיישנה לאור זוועות חמאס ב-7 באוקטובר. הכרה במדינה פלסטינית בעת הזו תהיה פרס לטרור והענקת לגיטימציה פוליטית לתנועה שחרטה על דגלה את השמדת ישראל.@J_Bardella ???????? pic.twitter.com/SZOk9aknIP
— עמיחי שיקלי – Amichai Chikli (@AmichaiChikli) June 24, 2024