The National Rally (RN), a nationalist, racist and antisemitic party, is on the brink of power in France. We therefore devote this week’s issue to the unique and indisputable challenge of this second round: the need to resolutely oppose the extreme right. If we’ve reached this point, it’s because, without changing anything in its ideological matrix, it has managed to pass itself off in the eyes of a significant proportion of the French population as something it could never be: a credible political alternative, a responsible and modern party. At the heart of this well-known “dediabolization” operation is the idea that the RN has rid itself of its antisemitism. From now on, the devil dresses as a philosemite. Julia Christ’s text examines the context in which the RN’s claim to be a “shield for Jews” may have been founded. And what responsibilities need to be assumed if we are to mount an effective opposition to an antisemitism that now knows how to move forward in disguise.
In order to dispel the illusion that the RN has become the defender of the Jews, and that the latter are therefore rallying it in large numbers, we publish a cross-interview between Johan Weisz – editor-in-chief of the extreme right media specialist Streetpress – and Jonathan Hayoun – co-author, with Judith Cohen Solal of an investigation (La main du diable : Comment l’extrême droite a voulu séduire les Juifs de France [The Devil’s Hand: How the extreme right sought to seduce France’s Jews ] (Grasset, 2019)) – on the evolution of its discourse and strategy concerning the Jews.
In our third text for this week we focus – as reflected in the dialogue between Bruno Karsenti and Danny Trom – on the dilemma facing Jews on the left, which has long been their political home, and which should be their refuge from the rise of the extreme right.
