World
French far-right leader Nicolas Bay arrives in Israel for 'talks with political establishment'
January 26, 2017 17:02
The Secretary General of the far-right French party Front National arrived in Israel yesterday for a series of talks with members of the country’s political establishment.
Nicolas Bay, who is a close aide and confidant of Marine Le Pen, the FN’s candidate in the French Presidential election later this year, did not meet with anyofficial representatives from the Israeli government, which shuns the party.
However, Bay tweeted photos of himself in meetings with a number of political luminaties, including the Israeli Health Ministry's deputy director general, an Israeli medical commander, and David Shyan, the leader of the party's youth organisation.
"The meeting with Mr. Bay was unofficial and took place by coincidence," said David Shayan, head of the Likud party's youth group. "Likud Youth has no interest in involvement with the political process and elections in France." He declined to say what was discussed in the meeting.
However, Johann Habib, spokesman of the Israeli Francophone Federation, called the visit "shocking" and "a provocation."
"This party does not share our values of democracy and equality and tolerance," Habib said. "The party is anti-Semitic." He questioned why Israel allowed him into the country.
Since Marine Le Pen, a leading presidential candidate, took over the leadership in 2011, she has worked to change the party’s image after her father was convicted for racism and antisemitism, being fined £24,000 by a French court in 2016 after dismissing the gas chambers used to kill Jews in the Holocaust an merely a “detail” of history.
Emmanuel Nahshon of Israel's Foreign Ministry said that Bay was on a private visit and would not meet Israeli officials.
Israel's Haaretz daily reported that Bay was visiting in order to meet French citizens living in Israel, shore up French Jewish support, and to meet Israeli politicians.
His meetings come after other members of other far-right parties in Europe also visited Israel, including the leader of the Austrian Freedom Party, Heinz-Christian Strache.