Marine Le Pen has been courting French Jewish voters, who feel they’ve become left out in their left-run country, particularly in light of the sharp increase of open anti-Semitism, The Conversation reported Wednesday.
In recent decades, the Jewish community has turned to the right, and in 2007 Jews enthusiastically supported right-of-center presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy.
Back in 2014, Le Pen the weekly Valeurs Actuelles: “I do not stop repeating to French Jews … that the Front National is not your enemy, but that it is without a doubt the best shield to protect you against the one true enemy, Islamic fundamentalism.”
These days, the National Front openly supports Jewish self-defense against the Muslim threat. The party also supports unequivocally the Netanyahu government, depicting it as a bulwark against the Islamic threat.
Le Pen’s National Fronr has been supporting Michel Thooris’ Union of French Jewish Patriots. Thooris, a French-Jewish police inspector, is on leave from his government job, because he is running because he was elected municipal councilor on a National Front list in southern France. He presents himself as both a nationalist and an “ultra-Zionist.” In 2011, Thooris traveled to Israel with Le Pen’s partner Louis Aliot.
According to The Conversation, Le Pen showcases Thooris, demonstrating that she is not anti-Semitic – look, she has a Jewish friend.
Her other Jewish friends are members of the Jewish Defense League in France. Le Pen is the only French politician who openly supports the JDL, which is occasionally involved in clashes with Muslim and pro-Palestinian activists.