Israel’s Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli has been at the forefront of Israel’s efforts to build ties with right-wing extremists in Europe [Getty]
Israel is establishing relations with far-right political parties in Europe, removing a long-standing cordon sanitaire that will see the government openly work with groups with known links to anti-semites and Holocaust deniers.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar earlier this month told diplomats to open talks with ultra-nationalist parties in France, Spain and Sweden who have expressed support for Israel, Axios reported, citing three foreign ministry officials.
“We do not agree with the entire platform of these parties or with every statement made by their leaders, but we believe that we can have a dialogue with them,” one official said.
Far-right and right-wing populist parties including France’s National Rally, the Spanish Vox party and the Sweden Democrats have been vocally supportive of Israel since the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas and the ensuing war on Gaza, using it to push their stridently anti-Islam and anti-immigrant messaging.
The ministry is also considering working with Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the Austrian Freedom Party – both parties with links to neo-Nazis – though a final decision is yet to be made, one official told the online news outlet.
Israel has long counted populist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban – whose party has been accused of tolerating antisemitism – among its closest allies but reportedly began outreach to far-right parties in other European countries when current Defence Minister Israel Katz was serving as foreign minister.
The Israeli minister for combating antisemitism Amichai Chikli, who has in recent months attended a number of far-right conventions, openly supported France’s far-right National Rally during last year’s elections, and met last week with the party’s vice president, Jordan Bardella.
Israel in 2023 hosted officials from Spain’s Vox for talks, which the party’s leader Santiago Abascal said had “strengthened close ties” between the two sides.
Vox, which has been described as the heir of the right-wing authoritarian Franco regime of the mid-20th century, has come under fire from Jewish organisations in Spain after it nominated a Holocaust denier to stand for parliament in 2019.
Last year, the infamous neo-Nazi bookseller Pedro Varela was spotted at a party event in Barcelona.
France’s National Rally is the outgrowth of the National Front which counted among its founding members a former Waffen-SS section leader Pierre Bousquet and the notoriously antisemitic Jean-Marie le Pen.
Its current leader, Le Pen’s daughter Marine, has sought to distance the party from its extremist roots but retains a hardline stance on immigration.
Jewish organisations boycotted the party during the last election in 2022 and urged the community to vote for centrist incumbent Emmanuel Macron.
Jewish groups also refuse contact with the Sweden Democrats, a party which had neo-Nazis among its founding members.
