PARIS - On Friday, just two days before the first round of the regional elections in France, the Alsace chapter of the French Jewish umbrella organization CRIF, published a statement: "The Alsace chapter, strongly attached to the values of the Republic, calls upon all voters to participate at the upcoming elections – since so much is at stake. We are calling to reject the extremist parties that advocate hatred and try to prosper at the expense of the divide within the society created by fear."
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| "Those who are against Muslims in general, might also turn against Jews one day." - Simon Samuels, International Relations Director of the Wiesenthal Center in Paris |
For those who were still not convinced, CRIF president Roger Cukierman published an unequivocal statement Monday morning in which he called on the Jewish community to take part in the second voting round "in order to block the National Front, a party of xenophobia and populism." Indeed, the results of the first round yesterday shocked many.
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| French Jewish Org Calls On US to Remove Anti-Semitic Content From Internet |
To try to make sure Le Pen does not win in the final round, France’s ruling Socialist Party decided to tell its supporters in three regions where it came third to back Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservative Republicans.
The Jewish community, and with it all those who oppose the National Front, have but a week now to turn this trend around. According to current estimations, the National Front won’t take over all of the six regions where its candidate came in first at the first round. Still, Marine Le Pen in the northern Pas-des-Calais region and her niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen in the southern Province-Cote d’Azur, might very well duplicate last Sunday’s results. With or without any Jewish vote, these two women might preside over two important French regions in the very near future.
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French Jewish umbrella organization CRIF:
"The Alsace chapter, strongly attached to the values of the Republic, calls upon all voters to participate at the upcoming elections – since so much is at stake. We are calling to reject the extremist parties that advocate hatred and try to prosper at the expense of the divide within the society created by fear." The Jewish community must take part in the second voting round "in order to block the National Front, a party of xenophobia and populism."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
No word yet from CRIF regarding rejecting the Israeli Prime Minister's extremist statement that advocates hatred and tries to prosper at the expense of the divide within the society created by fear. The Jewish community is unwilling to block Likud, a party of xenophobia and populism.
