BRUSSELS (EJP)---French President Nicolas Sarkozy was choosen as “European Personality of the Year 2007” by European Jewish Press readers.

Sarkozy, who was elected last May, got 63 % of the votes. He is followed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel (13%), Russian President Vladimir Putin (12%), former British Prime Minister Tony Blair (currently Mideast Quartet’s envoy) (9%) and José-Luis Zapatero, Spain’s Prime Minister (3%).

The president, who will be 53 on January 28, casts himself as a modernizer, championing a clean break with the country’s traditional ruling elite.

Since he came to power, he has expressed at several occasions his friendship with Israel and his determination to fight anti-Semitism.

France is today considered as one of Israel’s closest ally in Europe . Sarkozy is also seen as much more pro-American than his predecessor Jacques Chirac.  

In a major foreign policy speech in August, the French President declared: "I have the reputation of being a friend of Israel and it’s true. I will never compromise on Israel’s security."

BUt Sarkozy also stressed that as a friend of Israel, he has the right "to say things."

"I’ve said several times that it’s time for Israel to make gestures which would show that peace is possible, including ending settlements." He added : "Being a friend doesn’t mean being complacent."

Addressing the American Jewish Committee in Washington in November, he said: "Anti-Semitism and racism are beasts and must be attacked head on. Once you try to explain anti-Semitism, you are rationalizing anti-Semitism."

Sarkozy, who lost 57 members of his family to the Nazis, comes from a long line of Jewish and Zionist leaders and heroes. His mother was born to the Mallah family, one of the oldest Jewish families of Salonika in Greece.

In the 15th century, the Mallah family, escaped the Spanish Inquisition to Provence, France and moved about one hundred years later to Salonika.

In Greece, several family members became prominent Zionist leaders, active in the local and national political, economic, social and cultural life.

Sarkozy’s grandfather, Aron Mallah, nicknamed Benkio, was born in 1890.

Beniko’s uncle Moshe was a well-known Rabbi and a devoted Zionist who, in 1898 published and edited “El Avenir”, the leading paper of the Zionist national movement in Greece at the time.

His cousin, Asher, was a Senator in the Greek Senate and in 1912 he helped guarantee the establishment of the Technion – the elite technological university in Haifa, Israel.

In 1919 he was elected as the first President of the Zionist Federation of Greece and he headed the Zionist Council for several years. In the 1930’s he helped Jews flee to Israel, to which he himself immigrated in 1934.

Another of Beniko’s cousins, Peppo Mallah, was a philanthropist for Jewish causes who served in the Greek Parliament, and in 1920 he was offered, but declined, the position of Greece’s Minister of Finance.

After the establishment of the State of Israel he became the country’s first diplomatic envoy to Greece.