The flamboyant French lawyer Arno Klarsfeld, 37, has recently completed his 18-month military service in the Israel Defense Force.

Son of Nazi-hunters Beate and Serge Klarsfeld, Arno is a pro-Israel activist who took Israeli citizenship in 2002.

The Israeli interior ministry initially refused to register him as a Jew as his German mother – who was in the past detained in Syria, South America and Germany for pro-Jewish activities – is a non-practicing Lutheran.

“They wanted to register me as a Protestant but I refused, I am a member of the Jewish people,” he then explained.

Klarsfeld already made headlines several years ago when he jumped on stage at an extreme right rally of Jean-Marie Le Pen’s National Front party to denounce it as anti-Semitic. He was kicked by security officials.

He also made his name as a lawyer for Holocaust victims in the trials of French collaborators Maurice Papon and Paul Touvier. Later, he campaigned for the creation of the international court to try the perpetrators of genocides in Rwanda and Kosovo.

Parents as a model

Klarsfeld's new book "Israel Transit, Interview with Yves Derai"

In his latest book, “Israel Transit, Interview with Yves Derai”, Klarsfeld tells about his experiences in the Israeli army.

“I couldn’t talk about Israel and write articles without knowing Hebrew and doing army service. I didn’t want to be an onlooker of events, but a player. For me, Zionism is action,” he told the French press.

“Today I feel like a real champion of Israel. Not only by words. My action is more concrete and I feel in harmony with myself,” he added.

He stressed that his parents, who have worked to track down Nazi war criminals since the 1970s, had been a “model” for him.

“Not only verbally but also physically and each commitment implies sacrifices. Serving in the army in Israel is no picnic, neither is it for the Israelis,” he added.

'At home' in Israel

In the Israeli army, Klarsfeld was first appointed as an IDF spokesperson.

“I didn’t like it and I soon asked to go out into the field. I was appointed in the Magav unity [the border guards], near Bethlehem and later in Jerusalem. We had to carry out identity checks and stop Palestinians from entering Israel without a working permit.”

Klarsfeld said he had always objected to French coverage of the situation in Israel.

“The time had come for me to become a part of the collective experience of the Jewish people. That’s why I decided to become Israeli and to do my military service, like everyone in Israel.”

“Today, with the Israeli citizenship, I feel really at home in Israel,” he said.