It is a significant and positive step that Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli has invited Jordan Bardella and Marion Maréchal to the upcoming conference against antisemitism.
As the likely future leaders of the National Rally (RN), they represent the next phase of a party that has undergone a remarkable transformation under Marine Le Pen.
Le Pen deserves recognition for her efforts to shift the RN away from the antisemitic ideology that defined its past under her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Over the years, she has steered the party toward a position that protects Jews in France from the growing threats posed by Islamists and the extreme Left.
Her achievement is nothing short of revolutionary: taking a party whose DNA, like that of all far-right movements, was historically steeped in antisemitism and turning it into a force against antisemitism.
This was no easy task. Imagine the willpower required to persuade entrenched party leaders to accept these changes. She had to remove her own father—whom she loved—from the party he founded. By doing so, she erased a long-held far-right narrative that cast Alfred Dreyfus as guilty and Vichy as innocent.
Today, the RN not only recognizes the reality of antisemitism but also understands the challenges Israel faces in a hostile region—something many others in French politics fail to grasp.
This shift was not achieved in isolation. Organizations such as CRIF, the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah, and the Mattéoli Commission have worked tirelessly to combat antisemitism, providing Le Pen with the historical and documentary evidence needed to convince those around her.
Additionally, the landmark speech by Jacques Chirac acknowledging France’s role in the Holocaust—echoed by François Hollande and Emmanuel Macron—was instrumental in reshaping public discourse on the issue.
Jean-Marie Le Pen opposed Chirac’s speech, which formally recognized France’s responsibility for the deportation of 80,000 Jews during the Holocaust.
In contrast, Marine Le Pen acknowledged its historical importance. As my father, Serge Klarsfeld, has written, the French population played a crucial role in saving three-quarters of the country’s Jewish community.
Marine Le Pen also supported the Gayssot Law, which prohibits Holocaust denial and remains a vital tool in fighting antisemitism.
The 11 million French citizens who vote for Marine Le Pen today are good people. Eighty years ago, their predecessors helped Jews escape Nazi roundups.
These voters come from across the political spectrum—right, left, and center. They are drawn to the RN not out of racism or extremism but because they are disillusioned with successive governments that have led France into economic decline, diplomatic weakness, and social instability.
These governments have failed to integrate migrants, stop illegal immigration, or ensure security in France’s cities.
At the same time, French Jews face a different but equally dangerous threat: an extreme Left party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise (LFI), which is obsessed with anti-Zionism—a Siamese twin of antisemitism.
Today, the RN serves as a shield against both antisemitic acts and anti-Jewish propaganda. Islamism and jihadism remain the primary internal enemies of French Jews.
We would vote for the RN
This is why my father and I have maintained that, in a political contest between the LFI and the RN, we would vote for the RN.
And for the next presidential election, we continue to stand by this position. If the choice comes down to Mélenchon versus Marine Le Pen, we would vote against an antisemite and for a former far-right leader who has become pro-Jewish and Republican.
My family knows firsthand what the real extreme right looks like. My parents dedicated their lives to bringing Nazi war criminals to justice in Germany—men like Klaus Barbie, Kurt Lischka, and Herbert Hagen.
My mother was arrested multiple times in the 1970s and 1980s across South America, where Nazi fugitives such as Walter Rauff and Josef Mengele had found refuge.
She was also arrested twice in Syria while demanding the extradition of Alois Brunner, Adolf Eichmann’s right-hand man responsible for the murder of more than 100,000 Jews from Austria, France, and Thessaloniki.
We have paid the price for this fight. We survived two assassination attempts by the far-right—one bomb that destroyed our car and another concealed in a mail package that nearly killed me. I personally fought against Marine Le Pen’s father and put my own life at risk. I know what the real extreme right is.
We also know what it means to support Israel. My mother was arrested in Syria after the Yom Kippur War for demanding the names of Israeli prisoners of war.
She was detained in multiple Arab capitals for calling on their governments to recognize Israel. Former prime minister Menachem Begin once said she was the first German he ever agreed to shake hands with.
She was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by members of the Knesset.
I served two years in the Border Police (Magav) during the Second Intifada. My cousin, Dor Sade, was killed in combat while defending Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 9.
He was a commander in the Givati Brigade and died heroically saving many lives. His grandfather, Yitzhak Klarsfeld, also died fighting heroically against the Egyptians in the Yom Kippur War.
The Klarsfeld family knows who the friends of the Jewish people are and who its enemies are. The RN is no longer an enemy. It has become an ally, and that is a significant victory—not just for us, but for the Jewish community in France, which faces growing dangers.
For this reason, my family views Amichai Chikli’s initiative as a bold and necessary step. In a changing world, where Jews face evolving threats, we must recognize our allies and confront our enemies with clarity.
Arno Klarsfeld is a lawyer and a member of the Paris, New York, and Los Angeles Bar.