The moral wavering of French left-wing politicians who refuse to call Hamas a terrorist organization has horrified French Jews and the public, from death threats to graffiti on Jewish shops.
At the same time, party leader Marine Le Pen sees a major electoral opportunity in pledging to protect the country’s terrified Jewish community as she can benefit from a clear anti-Islamist programme, while the extreme left relies on support from immigrant and Muslim communities where a tough defence of Israel would play badly.
The very worst is happening, we see pogroms on Israeli soil, inflicted by a terrorist group with an indescribable bestiality … Israel must be allowed to eradicate Hamas, said Le Pen in the days after the attacks that claimed more than 1,400 Israeli lives.
The president of the National Association, Jordan Bardella, also spoke in the same way, saying that “the National Rally is for many French Jews a shield in the face of Islamist ideology.”
The far-left France Unbowed party has reacted to the attacks in an ambiguous manner, in some cases referring to Hamas as “a resistance movement” or implying that Israel is to blame for the attacks.
In the days following the 7 October attacks, as thousands of French people gathered in Paris to support Israel, politicians put aside their differences and marched hand in hand. Although most of the leaders of the major parties attended the march, neither Marine Le Pen nor Jordan Bardella attended.
Le Pen, on the other hand, joined another gathering honouring a Jewish Holocaust survivor who was stabbed to death in 2018, she was booed and forced to leave. So in the wake of the Hamas attacks, National Rally councillors have carefully weighed their support and their attitudes, careful not to inflame tensions.
The question is: Is Marine Le Pen actually trying to win the Jewish vote? According to Camus, this is rather unlikely, given that the Jewish community is relatively small – about 500,000 people. Based on his judgement, the attempt to win the support of French Jews is rather “symbolic” and aimed at tweaking the party’s new normalist image. A recent poll by Ipsos showed that the French consider “France Unbowed” more dangerous than the National Rally.
Meanwhile, Le Pen’s approval rating has been rising in recent weeks as she refrains from provocations and continues to campaign on security and migration issues.
What she is trying to do will eventually represent a seismic shift in French politics. With presidential elections due in 2027, her eyes are on the Elysée Palace.
