As part of ongoing efforts to foster greater inter-community understanding, the European Jewish Union has begun a dialogue with France’s Front National leader Marine Le Pen.

Officials from the EJU met with the nationalist leader in Paris last week and discussed a range of issues and concerns affecting the European Jewish Community. Serving MEP Le Pen welcomed the opportunity to enter into a dialogue with the EJU and reaffirmed her commitment to support Israel within European Union structures. She also confirmed that any members of her Front National party who voiced Holocaust denial sentiments would face immediate expulsion from the party.

Despite finishing third in recent French presidential elections with over 17% of the national vote, Marine Le Pen remains a controversial politician who many in the mainstream avoid engaging with. However, EJU leaders argue that an inclusive Europe can only be achieved by developing a dialogue with parties from across the political spectrum.

European Jewish Union member, Alexander Zanzer:

“There is no way any Jewish organization. Neither the EJU or any Jewish press support any kind of extremists but we have to apply the same standards to the extreme left and extreme right. Because at this moment Europe is divided in two. In East Europe extreme right has become extremely anti-Semitic. In west Europe it is the extreme left. So there are culprits on both sides.”

Should the National Front finally purge its party of anti-Semitic rhetoric and clamp down on those who do not toe the party line, it would be a step-change for a far-right party attempting to appeal to Europe’s largest Jewish community.