Israeli minister defends French far-right's Bardella in antisemitism row

JERUSALEM: An Israeli minister came out in defense of French far-right politician Jordan Bardella on Tuesday, after an investigative website alleged that he had made antisemitic comments in 2013. Bardella, 31, is the de facto number two to the National Rally's (RN) Marine Le Pen, and is tipped to become prime minister if she is elected France's president next April. He has rejected the allegations, which were published by the website Mediapart. Bardella 'is one of the clearest voices in Europe against Hamas,' Amichai Chikli, Israel's minister for diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, wrote on X. 'He visited the Nova site and the communities of the Gaza envelope,' he added, referring to areas in southern Israel that were ravaged by Hamas during its October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the Gaza war. 'He met survivors. He spoke in Jerusalem against antisemitism.' The minister also posted an image of himself shaking Bardella's hand at the site of the Nova music festival massacre. According to Mediapart, Bardella wrote in a private chat in 2013, when he was 17 or 18, that Jews and Zionists have to 'dominate other peoples, crush them, and rob them,' and that Israel is bent on creating a 'new world order.' In his defense of Bardella, Chikli attacked Mediapart, claiming that its co-founder Edwy Plenel supported Palestinian militants and 'stood with the men who murdered eleven Israeli athletes in Munich' at the 1972 Olympics. Chikli, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, also lashed out at current Mediapart president Carine Fouteau, claiming she 'calls Israel a colonial state and wants sanctions for genocide.' Bardella is a savvy user of social media who projects a clean-cut image, and has been a key player in Le Pen's project of 'de-demonization' to make the RN into an electable force. Both have moved to rid the party of the legacy of her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, who founded and led what was then the National Front and repeatedly made antisemitic remarks. Bardella made an unprecedented visit to Israel in 2025, the first by a French far-right leader, in a bid to demonstrate the RN's new credentials. The visit was at the invitation of Chikli, who in recent years has cultivated ties with figures and parties from the European far right and hosted them in Israel, marking a shift away from Israel's traditional boycott of parties with suspected extremist and antisemitic views. The allegations against Bardella emerged as Le Pen's prospects for the 2027 elections appear stronger than at any point in her previous campaigns. Bardella accused what he called an 'activist media' of conducting a smear campaign 'to destabilize the presidential campaign and attack my honor.'