When more than 100,000 people marched in Paris against antisemitism on Sunday, one political group joining the crowd stood out – far-right Rassemblement National supporters with their leader, Marine Le Pen.
'For me, the DNA of the far right is antisemitism. So when I see a big party abandoning antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and march towards the Republic’s values, I’m glad," French lawyer and Nazi-hunter Serge Klarsfeld said in Le Figaro newspaper.
Jewish organisations are more than sceptical, however.
The main French Jewish advocacy group has accused Le Pen of political opportunism. “For me, it’s a form of appropriation, of instrumentalisation of the march, which is obscene,” said Yonathan Arfi, head of the CRIF group.
Some welcome the far right changing their stance, but there are people who doubt the sincerity of it. They feel like it’s a populist move in order to lose the image of antisemitism, in order to appeal to more people, whilst intending to turn on them later.
That is because they aren’t of single mind:
Some welcome the far right changing their stance, but there are people who doubt the sincerity of it. They feel like it’s a populist move in order to lose the image of antisemitism, in order to appeal to more people, whilst intending to turn on them later.
Thanks, just checking I understood things right. For some reason asking for clarification deserves downvoting
These are polarizing times, certainly considering semitic subjects, unfortunately.