Netanyahu cleans up his image among the European far right

BarcelonaThe Netanyahu government's alliance with far-right forces around the world, from Argentine President Javier Milei to Hungarian President Victor Orbán, is offending Jewish sensibilities inside and outside Israel. The latest episode was the conference against antisemitism convened this Wednesday and Thursday in Jerusalem by the Ministry of Diaspora, in which representatives of Vox, the French National Rally, the Sweden Democrats, the Dutch Freedom Party, Fidesz of Hungary, and Fidesz of Hungary participated.

"Far-right politicians are not participating in the conference out of love for Israel or to protect the Jews, but because they want to get a seal of approval." kosher of legitimacy," he wrote in the conservative Israeli daily Jerusalem Post Ariel Muzicant, president of the European Jewish Congress. Muzicant has described the participation of far-right leaders as a "stab in the back." Until recently, Israel had boycotted the European far right, but a few months ago, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs made official contacts with the National Rally, the Sweden Democrats, and Vox. Santiago Abascal visited Netanyahu in the spring of last year.

Jordan Bardella, leader of the French National Rally, was the star guest, after Argentine President Javier Milei canceled his participation at the last minute, officially due to the growing tensions in his country. Marine Le Pen and Bardella have been trying for years to erase the memory of the Holocaust denial of the party's founder (then National Front), Jean-Marie Le Pen. But the Le Pen family hasn't completely broken away from its anti-Semitic origins: the founder's granddaughter, Marion Maréchal, an MEP, has never renounced her grandfather's positions.

Hermann Tertsch represents Vox

MEP Hermann Tertsch, son of a Nazi Party member, has represented Vox. The party has now placed at the head of its union, Solidaridad, a well-known neo-Nazi, Jordi de la Fuente. Laurent Cohen, of the Catalan Association of Jews and Palestinians Together, warns that this is a "whitewashing of the far right, which Israel makes respectable because it removes the label of anti-Semites, even though they have not ceased to be so," and recalls that "especially in Europe, they have worked hard to achieve that respectability."

In his speech at the conference, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu praised Trump for suppressing protests against the Gaza war on university campuses, which he described as "a systematic alliance between the far left and radical Islam." There was no reference to anti-Semitism and the far right. Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik also participated in the meeting, although a Bosnian court requested an international arrest warrant for his policies against Bosniaks. Dodik denies the Srebrenica genocide and has been sentenced to prison for defying international law. Netanyahu is subject to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Gaza. The entire conference was based on the idea that the "new antisemitism" is coming from Muslim communities, immigrants, and the left, and by labeling criticism of Israeli military actions as antisemitic.

David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel during Trump's first term, also participated in the meeting and said he "loves" the plan for ethnic cleansing in Gaza, which he considers "doable." Many leading Jewish leaders in Europe and renowned Zionists refused to participate in the meeting, such as Jonathan Greenblatt, director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADDL), and French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy. The criticism forced Israeli President Isaac Herzog to withdraw his appearance and host another meeting. "You cannot organize a conference against anti-Semitism and at the same time invite anti-Semites who perpetuate the poison of hatred," said Michael Friedman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany.

In an article inSüddeutsche ZeitungMichael Brenner, professor of Jewish history at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, calls the summit a surrender to the far right, warning that "these extremists hate Muslims only slightly more than Jews, who are also on their hit list."