In France, a Formerly Anti-Semitic Party Stands with Israel

Oct. 16 2023

Much will be clarified in the coming weeks about how various political leaders, groups, and institutions respond to war between Israel and Hamas. In France, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the hard-right National Rally party, along with her number-two, issued strong statements of support for the Jewish state last week. Michel Gurfinkiel explains:

These are the most pro-Israel pronouncements both leaders have ever made. Marine’s father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who founded and led the National Front—the National Rally’s forerunner—managed to be at the same time an old-fashioned anti-Semite, a critic of Arab and Islamic immigration to France, and a close friend and supporter of Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime.

When Marine Le Pen took over the National Front from him in 2011 and turned it into a more mainstream populist party, she repudiated anti-Semitism and ventured to express some sympathy for Israel, albeit in vague and ambivalent terms.

Clearly, the National Rally is now stepping up the tone. For one thing, its base is increasingly convinced that Israel and France have a single common enemy—radical Islam—and that what happens now in Israel, or what national defense policies Israel must resort to, is a blueprint for France’s short-term future.

Read more at New York Sun

More about: Europe and Israel, France, Marine Le Pen

How the U.S. Can Retaliate against Hamas

Sept. 9 2024

“Make no mistake,” said President Biden after the news broke of the murder of six hostages in Gaza, “Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes.” While this sentiment is correct, especially given that an American citizen was among the dead, the White House has thus far shown little inclination to act upon it. The editors of National Review remark:

Hamas’s execution of [Hersh Goldberg-Polin] should not be treated as merely an issue of concern for Israel but as a brazen act against the United States. It would send a terrible signal if the response from the Biden-Harris administration were to move closer to Hamas’s position in cease-fire negotiations. Instead, Biden must follow through on his declaration that Hamas will pay.

Richard Goldberg lays out ten steps the U.S. can take, none of which involve military action. Among them:

The Department of Justice should move forward with indictments of known individuals and groups in the United States providing material support to Hamas and those associated with Hamas, domestically and abroad. The Departments of the Treasury and State should also target Hamas’s support network of terrorist entities in and out of the Gaza Strip. . . . Palestinian organizations that provide material support to Hamas and coordinate attacks with them should be held accountable for their actions. Hamas networks in foreign countries, including South Africa, should be targeted with sanctions as well.

Pressure on Qatar should include threats to remove Qatar’s status as a major non-NATO ally; move Al Udeid air-base assets; impose sanctions on Qatari officials, instrumentalities, and assets; and impose sanctions on Qatar’s Al-Jazeera media network. Qatar should be compelled to close all Hamas offices and operations, freeze and turn over to the United States all Hamas-connected assets, and turn over to the United States or Israel all Hamas officials who remain in the country.

Read more at FDD

More about: Gaza War 2023, Hamas, U.S. Foreign policy