LRecent statements by Serge Klarsfeld qualifying the National Rally [RN] of “pro-Jewish party” Who “supports the State of Israel” and justifying a possible vote for this formation against a candidate La France insoumise [LFI] arouse astonishment and sadness among many historians, including us. Is there any need to recall the considerable role that Serge Klarsfeld played in understanding the mechanisms and responsibility of Vichy in the deportation of Jews? The amazement is compounded by disbelief when you have worked on these subjects yourself.
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We will not return here to what motivates Serge Klarsfeld’s declaration: that there were more than ambiguous, if not anti-Semitic, positions taken in the ranks of LFI is beyond doubt, starting with certain assertions by his leader. Whether these positions are the result of an electoral calculation aimed at an Arab-Muslim electorate or of more deeply rooted prejudices does not change their seriousness. However, minimizing the danger that the arrival of an extreme right in power would represent today, for Jews and for all minorities, is naive and dangerous.
We could criticize the position, which is not very universalist, which consists of choosing a political party solely on the basis of declared support for a minority. We could also explain that the “transformation” of the RN into a respectable party remains superficial and that it has never truly condemned the historical heritage from which it comes, as political scientists and historians of the extreme right.
Form of blindness
By posing as “self-proclaimed defenders of the Jews of France”, the leaders of the RN do not only want to remove the last barrier to de-demonization. In a posture symmetrical to the displayed anti-Zionism of certain LFI leaders, they attempt to seduce an electorate paralyzed by anti-Semitism whose resurgence, more than worrying, is thriving against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
However, giving in to this temptation can only be a form of blindness consisting of ignoring the intimate link between xenophobia and anti-Semitism, amply documented by the work of Serge Klarsfeld himself. Should we recall that most contemporary anti-Jewish policies were preceded by measures against foreigners and that, despite initial differences often displayed by persecuting states between so-called “national” Jews and foreign Jews, discrimination eventually ended? become widespread?
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