The march against anti-Semitism, a turning point for Marine Le Pen

by Michel Rose

PARIS (Reuters) – Among the hundred thousand people who marched “for the Republic and against anti-Semitism” on Sunday in Paris, an unprecedented presence attracted attention: that of executives of the French extreme right and their leader , Marine Le Pen.

However, it was the father of the latter, the founder of the National Front Jean-Marie Le Pen, who was condemned by the courts after having declared in 1996 that the gas chambers used to kill Jews during the Shoah constituted a “detail of History” of the Second World War.

But this presence at the Parisian march of the double finalist in the presidential election is a spectacular new step in the de-demonization strategy of her party, eager for respectability in the perspective of future elections, analysts believe.

A strategy adopted elsewhere in Europe by other figures of the far right quick to highlight the fight against anti-Semitism to justify their anti-immigration positions and refute any accusation of racism.

Although voices are being raised to accuse her of opportunism and hypocrisy, analysts judge that the strategy adopted by Marine Le Pen is proving to be extremely effective, little by little cracking the glass ceiling that has hitherto been hers. prevented from coming to power.

Since her arrival on the political scene, Marine Le Pen has continued to distance herself from the incendiary rhetoric of her father whom she succeeded in 2015, renaming her party National Rally (RN) three years later. , today with nearly 90 deputies.

Until now, a sort of “sanitary cordon” surrounded his camp, which the other parties categorically refused to see marching alongside them.

On Sunday, a dike was blown up, say analysts, who see it as a turning point in the history of the party founded in 1972.

Although relegated to the back of the demonstration led by the presidents of the two chambers and two former heads of state, Marine Le Pen and her relatives were able to march, barely heckled by members of Golem, a collective of young Jews.

“We are exactly where we need to be,” the Pas-de-Calais MP declared in front of the cameras.

For Jean-Daniel Levy, of the Harris Interactive polling institute, the leader “had everything to gain from her presence in this demonstration.”

“What this means for 2027 is that the reasons to oppose the election of Marine Le Pen are even weaker today than they were some time ago,” he said. the political scientist told Reuters.

Green MP Sandrine Rousseau expressed her uneasiness at what she considers to be a “tipping point” moment, denouncing on France 2 a National Rally which “has whitewashed itself in the face of its natural anti-Semitism”.

EUROPEAN STRATEGY

Those close to Marine Le Pen expressed their satisfaction.

“Several times, Marine Le Pen was applauded in the procession,” a member of her entourage told Reuters. “The French know that Marine Le Pen has definitively broken with Jean-Marie Le Pen on this subject [de l’antisémitisme-NDLR]. Attempts at re-demonization no longer work.”

Former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy both approved the presence of the RN in the parade, with the former declaring on BFMTV that “when it comes to fighting anti-Semitism, I take everyone”.

The strategy adopted by Marine Le Pen is found elsewhere in Europe, notably in Italy, where the right-wing government of Giorgia Meloni has been resolutely pro-Israeli since the start of the conflict between the Jewish state and Hamas, a posture adopted for a long time. date to gain respectability.

A member of a neo-fascist movement when she was a teenager, Giorgia Meloni pledged last year to fight against “all forms of discrimination and anti-Semitism” by paying tribute to Jewish journalists persecuted by Israel’s racial laws. fascist era.

In Germany, the far-right Alternative for Germany party expressed solidarity with Israel and urged the government to take steps to prevent “imported anti-Semitism” from Muslim migrants, although security services have reports the presence of anti-Semitism within the party.

In Britain, the right of the ruling Conservative Party has adopted a fiercely pro-Israeli stance, going so far as to label demonstrations in support of the Palestinians “hate marches.”

“NO ONE IS FOOLED”

In France, figures from the Jewish community have said they believe in the sincerity of the Le Pen camp’s change.

“For me, the DNA of the far right is anti-Semitism. So, when I see a major party from the far right abandoning anti-Semitism, negationism, and moving towards republican values, I I am delighted. I take note of these steps forward by the National Rally,” Serge Klarsfeld, famous as a “Nazi hunter,” told Le Figaro.

Jewish organizations are more circumspect, like Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), who denounced “a form of recovery, of instrumentalization” of the demonstration.

Coincidence of the calendar, the defamation trial brought by Marine Le Pen against her former economic advisor, Jean-Richard Sulzer, who declared in 2021 that his party discriminated against Jews in placing them in ineligible positions on the electoral lists.

“No one is fooled by the intention of the far right, which consists of better supporting one community to better exclude another,” French government spokesperson Olivier Véran told the press on Wednesday.

For Jean-Daniel Lévy, Marine Le Pen’s strategy has nevertheless succeeded in changing the perceptions of part of the public and aims to “reverse the nature of the debate” by suggesting that “the danger is no longer the extreme right but Islamism or political Islam.”

According to an Elabe poll for BFM TV published this Wednesday, 57% of French people consider Marine Le Pen sincere in her fight against anti-Semitism, and 59% of them now believe that the RN is a party like the others, a proportion in increase of 7 points compared to June.

(Reporting by Michel Rose and Elizabeth Pineau, with Juliette Jabkhiro in Paris, Angelo Amante in Rome, Sarah Marsh in Berlin and Rachel Armstrong in London, editing by Kate Entringer)