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Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s right-wing political party, National Rally, is courting Jewish leaders, assuring them that she will not tolerate anti-Semitism in her party. She is not alone among Europe’s political parties on the Right side of the political spectrum in making an effort to bring the continent’s Jews into their political coalitions.
And an increasing number of Jews are open to their overtures.
With a rising tide of anti-Semitism in Europe, largely fueled by Islamist extremists among the flood of Middle Eastern immigration into the continent, and with violent assaults on Jews across the continent, many Jews have either left or are considering doing so. Almost 60,000 Jews have left France in just the past decade.
For those who choose to stay, moving closer to political parties that are in opposition to the pro-immigration policies of Europe’s elitist and globalist parties is an option more and more Jews are willing to consider.
“I’m 69 and tired of being polite,” Emanuel Bernhard Krauskopf said, explaining his decision to start a Jewish chapter of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), an anti-immigration party that is the chief opposition in the German parliament. “I support a party that calls a spade a spade and really stands up for the Jews.”
In Austria, there are Jewish lawmakers who are members of the right-wing Freedom Party, and in Sweden, Jews are members of that country’s parliament, belonging to another right-wing party, the Sweden Democrats. Similar examples could be cited in the Netherlands, Poland, and Italy. In fact, Geert Wilders, the leader of the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands, is regarded as Israel’s strongest supporter in western Europe.
Sweden’s Paula Bieler, one of three Jewish members of that nation’s parliament that are in the right-wing Sweden Democrats, explained why. “Jews feel insecure in our country and talk about leaving because it’s not a safe place for them anymore. Much of the anti-Semitism comes from the immigrant community who bring the Middle East conflict here.”
In an apparent effort to demonstrate to Europe’s Jews that they are serious about the courtship, several right-wing political leaders have gone to Israel to develop friendly relations with the nation for which many Jews understandably have emotional ties. Le Pen of France, Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, and Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban have all made the journey to visit Jerusalem.
Poland’s right-wing government was among those who voted no to a resolution in the United Nations condemning President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city. The leader of Germany’s AfD, Beatrix von Storch, recently denounced anti-Semitism in a speech in the Bundestag with rhetoric far stronger than anything dared by other German political parties — they do not want to offend the country’s growing Muslim community.
The growing secularism of the ruling elites in the European Union is also a cause for resentment among a large segment of more religious Jews. The right-wing parties, on the other hand, tend to be much stronger in their support of the continent’s historic Judeo-Christian heritage.
