‘Opportunistic varnish’
“When a party that was anti-Semitic in the past says it changed, Israelis generally react with mistrust. They want to see whether it’s just opportunistic varnish,” said Charbit, referring to past anti-Semitic comments made by National Rally members.
Although the party has worked hard in recent years to ingratiate itself with France’s Jewish community — the largest in Europe — Jean-Marie Le Pen was charged and convicted in a French court for downplaying the Holocaust.
It is the first time France’s far right has been invited to such an event in Israel, with 29-year-old National Rally president Jordan Bardella one of few guests expected to make a speech.
Attending on behalf of Orban’s Fidesz will be Member of European Parliament (MEP) Kinga Gal.
While Orban now casts himself as defender of Jews in Hungary, he previously championed a campaign against George Soros — an American billionaire and Jewish philanthropist of Hungarian heritage — that critics saw as veiled anti-Semitism.
At the conference, Gal will take part in a roundtable on “radical Islam” along with Swedish anti-immigration MEP Charlie Weimers.
Leaning illiberal
Shattering weeks of relative calm afforded by a January ceasefire, Israel last week resumed intense bombardment and ground operations across Gaza.
The resumption of military operations drew international condemnation, including from some of Israel’s longtime allies, adding to mounting criticism — particularly on the left — of Israel’s conduct of the war, which has killed thousands of civilians.
In Israel, thousands have marched against Netanyahu and his government, protesting what they see as their country slipping towards autocracy — an accusation also levelled at far-right movements elsewhere.
“Those currently mobilised against an illiberal state are not content, but also not surprised” by the conference’s unusual guests, said Charbit.
Netanyahu, for his part, has rejected such accusations as “worn-out and ridiculous”, telling parliament on Thursday: “Democracy is not in danger.”
Thomas Vescovi, an expert on the Israeli left, described it as a political minority faced with “a profound sense of threat” that has only heightened since the unprecedented Hamas attack of October 7, 2023.
“For progressive movements of Israel’s historic left, which doesn’t mobilise many people today, it’s obvious that these far right parties are not allies,” said Vescovi, a researcher at Paris’ School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences.
He said Israeli authorities have promoted the view of a Western country surrounded by a “threatening Middle East dominated by Islamist organisations” since the Second Intifada, a Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s.
By adhering to this idea of a “clash of civilisations”, Israel’s far-right converges ideologically with Europe’s.
“Looking at who Israelis vote for, we see that part of Israeli society shares these reactionary or right-wing ideas,” Vescovi said.
“A significant part but not a majority.”
