French Jewish leaders issued a joint statement warning against votes for the far-right National Rally (RN) and the left-wing New Popular Front coalition in the second round of parliamentary election on Sunday, after both blocs garnered more support than President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Ensemble coalition in the first round last Sunday.
France Chief Rabbi Haim Korsia, Central Consistory president Elie Korchia, Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) president Yonathan Arfi, and United Jewish Social Fund (FSJU) president Ariel Goldmann said in a Friday statement that voters should remain faithful to the French republican and humanist Judaic values that precluded RN and New Popular Front.
“Faithful to the history of our institutions and to the spirit of Judaism, we do not accept associating ourselves with those who tend to exclude or stigmatize our neighbor, or with those who inflame our society by spreading hatred and antisemitism under the cover of anti-Zionism,” said the Jewish organizations. “No, populism or nationalism have never been a bulwark against antisemitism in history, nor have they brought peace and serenity. No, antisemitism is neither ‘residual’ nor ‘contextual’ as some have dared to claim.”
Various Jewish leaders and organizations held particular ire for La France Insoumise (LFI), and blasted New Popular Front for welcoming them into their coalition.
Extreme politics takes over French elections
B'Nai B'rith Frane said on Tuesday that it was shocked by the first round of election results, saying saying, “More than 60% of French people gave their votes to the extremes.”
The far Left embraced anti-Jewish hatred in particular since the October 7 attack, and the far Right had a history of antisemitism and had alliances and candidates with a troubling history.B’nai B’rith called for voters not to give RN a majority or to empower the excesses of LFI, as the extremes would “lead France towards its doom.”The Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF) said on Tuesday that its activists were on a tour of France to promote republican values, which included caution against votes for those far on the political spectrum.In a series of CRIF videos, Children’s Relief Organization (OSE) president Arie Flack, Milles Camp Memorial Site director Alain Chouraqui, and French Committee for Yad Vashem president Patrick Klugman encouraged citizens to make “the republican choice,” and warned of the dangers of RN and LFI.Collectif Nous Vivrons held a protest in Paris on Thursday against RN and LFI, denouncing the former for what they said was the instrumentalization of Jews to hide their extremism, and the latter’s anti-Jewish speech.“We don’t fight racism with antisemites, we don’t fight antisemitism with racists,” the group said on X on Friday.The UEJF said on social media that it was “against RN, without compromise with LFI.”The student group decried antisemitism, racism, and xenophobia, listing constituencies with National Rally candidates whom they alleged to have engaged in such sentiments.UEJF on Thursday posted that the National Rally and its supporters had not changed. One issue that they raised was the matter of ritual slaughter of animals. CRIF has expressed concern that National Rally may seek to ban ritual slaughter. French Jews have previously expressed this worry to The Jerusalem Post, saying the party might seek to disincentivize Muslim immigration and residency, which would also bar kosher slaughter as well.CRIF had posted on Instagram before the first round six counter-arguments for both the right and left coalitions. LFI had recycled antisemitic theories about Jews controlling the media, was anti-democratic and supported dictatorships, did not decry Hamas as a terrorist organization, and was against French republicanism, CRIF claimed. It lambasted the left coalition for compromising with the party.The Jewish umbrella group contended that RN continued the historical and ideological legacy of its founder Jean Marie Le Pen, and refused to condemn its former leader and party’s antisemitism. CRIF said RN voters still harbored antisemitic beliefs and used Jews for legitimacy, and that it threatened women’s rights.The Friday Jewish leaders’ statement said the rise of antisemitism and violence against Jews that surged in the wake of October 7 had to be addressed regardless of the outcome of the vote.“The security of Jews and, more generally, of all citizens, as well as the full preservation of freedom of worship as offered by secularism, must be essential battles of the republic.”