French National Front Searching for Support In Israel

Haaretz reported today that French National Front heads to Israel to stump for support ahead of election

Islamophob Louis Aliot, partner of rightist presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, is in Israel to persuade those eligible to vote in the French presidential election to give their vote this spring.

Louis Aliot, the partner of National Front presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, visits Israel trying to persuade those eligible to vote in the French presidential election to give her their vote in this spring's balloting and to boost her image en route to the Elysee Palace.

"For us this visit is a precedent," Aliot told Haaretz. "This is the first time a National Front leader has visited Israel. It's true that relations were tense for a time, but it's time to warm up the atmosphere."

"They invited me so they could hear our worldview and Marine Le Pen's platform, particularly in the face of the Arab Spring," Aliot said. The group comprised "Frenchmen who live in Israel, many of them of Algerian origin."

What did he think of them?, Haaretz asked. "What was interesting was that it's not important what position you have on Israeli politics, you will always have strong ties to the land. We share that position," he said. "Just as the Jews are defending their right to Israel, we in France are fighting to defend our identity and our land."

"We don't always see eye-to-eye on Israel's foreign pol"icy but we have the same position on the dangers posed by radical Islam, which exists in Europe and also threatens Israel, which we call 'the western island,'" Aliot said.

"Today there is a global problem of immigrants, and here there is a specific problem of the rise of religion, what we call Islamization. Here there are deep differences of opinion. Alain Juppe, France's foreign minister, argues that there is a moderate Islam, while others argue that there is no such thing as moderate Islam."

"The Frenchmen we met in Israel all strongly believe that Marine is not the monster they might have thought. They share our stance with regard to immigrants in France," he said.

 

To read the entire article: http://www.haaretz.com