Rivlin’s shot heard round the world

President Reuven Rivlin’s scathing criticism of French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen during a Holocaust memorial ceremony on Monday night drew headlines around the world and across the board in the Hebrew media on Tuesday morning. He called on Israel to “wage war” on Holocaust denial growing in Europe and urged its leaders not to forge “unholy alliances” with the right-wing nationalist parties making major gains across the continent.

Rivlin’s comment that Le Pen is a new, more dangerous form of Holocaust denier sets the agenda in the Israeli press as France gets set for a runoff election between the National Front candidate and centrist presidential hopeful Emmanuel Macron. The ceremonial head of state’s remarks at Kibbutz Lohamei Hageta’ot manage to get more attention than the annual March of the Living in Auschwitz, which was attended by IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, Tel Aviv Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, who survived the camp as a child, and thousands of others.

The tabloids don’t mince words in reporting on Rivlin’s criticism of Le Pen and drive home the fact that they find her to be an anti-Semite. Israel Hayom calls the proclamation an “unconventional, but some would say necessary, step” against Le Pen, “the populist and anti-Semitic French presidential candidate.” Yedioth Ahronoth runs a headline featuring the president’s remark that Israel won’t have anything to do with “anti-Semites of any shape or form.”

Israel Hayom’s Dan Margalit heaps praise on “every word said by Reuven Rivlin yesterday in condemning Marine Le Pen,” but questions whether Israeli leaders should interfere in the French elections thus. Israel’s opposition to everything Le Pen stands for is clear, and she’s only expected to get 40% of the vote, he says, so what’s the use in causing a diplomatic stir? “But if there arises a need to intervene against Le Pen, there are other ways of doing it,” Margalit writes. The “ugly, dangerous regimes” rising in Europe are bitter enough for Israel to swallow, “there’s no sense in starting [conflict] with them ahead of time,” he argues.”

Ben-Dror Yemini clarifies to Yedioth Ahronoth’s readers that not all of the 21% of French voters who cast a ballot for Le Pen on Sunday are “absolutely anti-Semitic, just like not all those who criticize Israel are anti-Semitic.” He praises Rivlin for calling out Le Pen and Europe as a whole for the growing trend of denying their countries’ responsibility and involvement in the Holocaust.

“Something not good is passing over Europe,” he says of the rise of the radical right in states like Germany, Greece, Austria and Hungary. “Not all of them are anti-Semites. Far from it. But anti-Semitism, which sometimes masquerades as anti-Zionism, is on the rise. And it’s certainly a cause for concern.”

While Haaretz publishes a blurb on Rivlin’s speech declaring “war” on the new Holocaust denial in Europe on its front page, the paper devotes its energies to the skirmish between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and visiting German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel over the latter’s planned meeting with left-wing groups critical of Israeli actions in the West Bank. The top story in Haaretz is a report confirmed by the Prime Minister’s Office that Netanyahu threatened to cancel his meeting with Gabriel if the German diplomat didn’t scrap his planned meetings with Breaking the Silence and B’Tselem, two groups critical of Israel’s actions and policies in the West Bank that are vilified by the Netanyahu government. The paper reports that as of the time of publication, German diplomats said the Tuesday evening meeting between Gabriel and the two organizations were still on the agenda.

Israel Hayom gives the story play on its front page, and notes that as of time of publication, the prime minister’s agenda for Tuesday that was released to the press didn’t include a meeting with Gabriel. The paper notes to its readers that Netanyahu “spoke out several times against the two leftist organizations and clarified that they are causing damage to Israel abroad.”

The paper reports that Likud party members praised the prime minister’s move against the Germans, saying it was “an important battle against those issuing libel against Israel in the world.” Opposition leader Isaac Herzog, on the other hand, criticized Netanyahu for the ultimatum, saying it deals “a severe blow to Israel’s relations with the largest economy in Europe and a true friend of Israel.” That criticism is notably shunted to the bottom of the article.