Both men condemned Steven Bannon’s perceived Nazi salute at CPAC.

By Canaan Lidor, JNS

Israel’s Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli and a prominent right-wing politician from France met on Friday, in further evidence of Jerusalem’s shifting approach to far-right European parties with histories of antisemitism or even past ties to Nazism.

Chikli’s critics said the meeting, which took place in Washington, D.C., at CPAC (the annual Conservative Political Action Conference), went against the stated policies of Israel’s foreign ministry and the largest group representing French Jews, which have shunned direct, public contacts with the National Rally (N.R.) party of Jordan Bardella, the movement’s president.

On Monday, Walla reported that the Israeli Foreign Ministry has held discreet talks in recent weeks with far-right parties in France, Spain and Sweden that it had previously boycotted.

One senior ministry official told the Hebrew outlet that Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar decided to establish low-profile contacts with the National Rally in France, Spain’s Vox Party and the Swedish Democrats Party.

The origins of the N.R., which was known as the National Front from 1972 to 2018, go back to Jean-Marie Le Pen, an outspoken antisemite and Holocaust denier who died last month. His daughter Marine kicked him out of the party for his remarks and attempted to rehabilitate the party along with Bardella. Dozens of members have been expelled from the party for hate speech.

Chikli met Marine Le Pen in 2024, invoking criticism also then for not respecting the boycott of her party by the foreign ministry and the CRIF umbrella group of French-Jewish institutions.

Chikli defended his meeting with Bardella, writing on X on Monday that the N.R. “has faced relentless accusations and is often described as an extreme right-wing and antisemitic entity” but this is “nonsense.” Amid stabbings and murders by jihadists, “the N.R. is the second-largest party in France, comparable to Likud, not a niche fringe party.”

Bardella, Chikli added, “is one of the most pro-Israel voices in Europe. Unlike the chorus of European left-wing parties, he has firmly opposed recognizing a Palestinian state at this time, arguing it would reward terrorism and is not currently on the agenda.”

In France, Bardella came under fire from Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, who suggested that Bardella was unpatriotic for meeting Chikli despite Chikli’s criticism of the French policy on Israel.

“A great example of patriotism and diplomacy: two days after Amichai Chikli called for the closure of the consulate general of France in Jerusalem, Jordan Bardella sakes his hand,” Barrot wrote sarcastically on X on Saturday.

The centrist minister’s attempt to call into question Bardella’s patriotism—an allegation likely tailored to hurt Bardella with his right-wing base—opened the door to counter-allegations by Barrot’s critics, who posted pictures of him and other officials under President Emmanuel Macron shaking hands with Iranian officials and Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority and a repeat Holocaust denier.

On X, Bardella posted a picture of him shaking hands with Chikli, writing: “Franco-Israeli relations, international fight against Islamist terrorism and antisemitism, future joint projects, fruitful discussions during our meeting in Washington with Amichai Chikli.”

CRIF, which has boycotted the National Rally, did not immediately comment on the meeting.

Online, critics of Chikli, including journalist Barak Ravid, writing on the Axios U.S website suggested Chikli was sabotaging the work of CRIF by meeting Bardella and that “the absolute majority of France’s Jewish community boycotted Bardella’s party.”

‘No basis for claim’

Itai Cellier, an independent French Jewish journalist who specializes in reporting on France, disputed this claim, noting that French law forbids polling based on ethnicity.

“There’s no basis for the claim” that most French Jews shun Bardella’s party, which received more than 30 percent of the national vote in last year’s European Parliament elections, Cellier wrote.

Cellier noted that in recent years the N.R. has absorbed politicians and constituents of the center-right Republican party, while the Socialist party had absorbed parts of France Unbowed, a far-left, anti-Israel party.

Internal community polling from 2014 suggested that 14.5 percent of French Jews intended to vote for Marine Le Pen’s party, which is critical of centrist governments’ immigration policies.

In addition to condemning antisemitism, Le Pen and Bardella have defended Israel in the French media during Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023.