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French Jews are searching for a saviour, a friend, because the community is somewhat isolated and is feeling lost.
Photo: UMP
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PARIS (EJP)---With the French presidential election just one week away, frontrunner Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to attract a large percentage of the crucial Jewish vote.
France’s Jewish community numbers around 600,000, the largest in Western Europe.
Sarkozy, the head of the rightist governing UMP (Union for a Popular
Movement) party, has consistently led in the polls ahead of his Socialist rival Ségolène Royal and Centrist François Baryou.
The 52-year-old former Interior Minister, who is the son of a Hungarian immigrant and a French mother of Greek Jewish origin, is seen by many Jews as a "valeur-refuge" or value-shelter against anti-Semitism and anti-Israel attitudes.
Sarkozy has repeatedly declared that he is a friend of Israel, pro-American, marking his difference with outgoing President Jacques Chirac’s pro-Arab policy. He has also showed a particular attention for the Jewish institutions and has close ties with community leaders.
During his most recent trips to the Middle East he visited Israel but never went to the Palestinian territories. And he has been very critical of Hamas and Hezbollah.
Immigrant feeling
"In a context of rising so-called "communautarisme" or communautarian withdrawal marked by a rising aliyah or immigration to Israel, higher frequentation of community centres, synagogues and Jewish schools, Jews in France again feel like immigrants in their country despite the fact that they are a perfectly integrated community," the French weekly "Marianne" wrote last month.
"Like other communities which shy away the general interest, the Jewish identity of the voters will determine their choice," the magazine added.
But in an interview with European Jewish Press, Yves Azeroual, chief editor of the monthly magazine "Tribune Juive" said that although Sarkozy is the candidate who defends the best Israel and the community "on the paper" once he will be elected he will not be able to ignore the traditional pro-Arab French policy, illustrated by Chirac who is from the same party as Sarkozy.
Azeroual said: "Three weeks ago, French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, who supports Sarkozy, traveled to the Arab countries to tell them ’yes Sarkozy is a friend of Israel but he is committed to France’s Arab foreign policy.’ He will not be able to ignore the Quai d’Orsay’s (French foreign ministry) traditional policy."
Michael Darmon, a political reporter at France 2 public television, shares Azeroual's view. Author of a book on Sarkozy, Darmon said:" If elected, he will be asbsolutely obliged to balance his pro-Israel position but without falling into hostility towards the Jewish state."
"Despite statements by Sarkozy as Interior minister, the latest report of the French consultative commission on human rights shows a progression of anti-Semitism," Azeroual stressed.
Recalling a previous election, Azeroual said: "In 1981, Jews thought already that Socialist Mitterrand was the best candidate for them.
Later, we saw how they were deceived. As President he was the first to receive Arafat in Paris.
With Sarkozy it’s the same phenomenon. Former Israel’s Prime Minister Menahem Begin once said that there is only one country where one could vote both for a Jew and a pro-Israeli, it’s Israel."
Mistake
The editor said she believes the French Jewish community is making a mistake "by falling like one man in Sarkozy’s arms."
"Anti-Semitism has not stopped and Ilan Halimi (the 22-year-old Parisian Jew) has been murdered when Sarkozy was Interior Minister,"
Azeroual noted.
"French Jews are searching for a saviour, a friend, because the community is somewhat isolated and is feeling lost."
In his nomination speech on January 14, Nicolas Sarkozy declared:"I have personally changed when I visited the Yad Vashem Memorial dedicated to the Shoah victims. I remember, at the end of a long lane, a big room with dozens of small lights and the first names of 2, 4 and 5 year-old children, uttered without interruption."
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But some say that by choosing Sarkozy, Jews are also thinking about the candidate’s more liberal economic policies.
Many Jews see in Sarkozy the man who wants to reduce taxes and relaunch the French economy.
"With Sarkozy many people feel he will introduce more flexibility in the work," said Simone Veil, a former minister and former president of the European Parliament, who supports Sarkozy’s candidacy.
Some observers, however, noted that like in previous presidential elections, what is called the "Jewish vote" is going to "sanction" a candidate.
"Many Jews, who have traditionally voted Socialist have rather abandoned the Socialist candidate and turned to Sarkozy because they were frightened by Ségolène Royal’s lack of experience in international politics and troubled by her much publicized meeting at the end of last year with a Hezbollah official in Beirut," a political commentator told EJP.
In 1981 already, Jewish organisations called for voters to "sanction" former president Valery Giscard d'Estaing because of his disregard for Israel.
There are around 350,000 Jewish voters. The first round of the election will be held on April 22 and the runoff on May 6.
