(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Amb. Freddy Eytan - The re-election of Emmanuel Macron as President of France was predictable in the face of the election campaign's demonization of Marine Le Pen. The leaders of the Jewish umbrella group CRIF and the Consistoire (representing Jewish congregations) were wrong to intervene openly in the campaign by calling for a massive vote for the re-election of Macron as if there really was a decisive Jewish vote that could have weighed on the results of the elections. French Jewish institutions have a duty to forcefully combat extremist opinions and incitement to hatred. There can be no rehabilitation of Nazi collaborators, no forgiveness for Holocaust deniers. However, anti-Jewish and anti-Israel remarks are also constantly made by the French extreme left, specific media, and intellectuals, and we cannot ignore the strengthening of Jean-Luc Melenchon's leftist party in the first round. On the Arab-Israeli conflict, Macron and Le Pen espouse a similar policy, while Melenchon is much more radical and opposed to Israel. All three support the creation of an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital. All three demand Israel's withdrawal from all the territories, and all three favor dialogue with the ayatollahs of Iran. The writer is a former Foreign Ministry senior advisor who served in Israel's embassies in Paris and Brussels and was Israel's first Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.
2022-04-28 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive