During La Grande Interview on Europe 1-CNews, Éric Zemmour – Rekonquista organization leader (Reconquete!) and erstwhile French presidential candidate – powerfully rejected the accusations of genocide committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip.
In his opinion, Israeli bombings are a "proportional response" to Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023.
"There is no genocide. There's a war. And there is simply a nation that defends itself after a violent attack," Zemmour stated.
Not the first time on the side of Israel
This is not Zemmour's first pro-Israeli statement. In October 2023, right after the Hamas attack, he stated:
“Israel is present a western civilization in miniature – attacking it is an attack on us all.”
Earlier, during his 2022 presidential campaign, he had repeatedly defended Israeli policy towards Palestinians. He opposed Palestine's designation as a state and questioned the legitimacy of the UN-Sovian resolutions criticizing Israel. In 1 debate, he said:
“Israel has the right to do what we should have done long ago – to defend our identity and borders.”
Zemmour besides supports the expansion of judaic settlements in the West Bank, calling them “the natural right of Israelis to dwell their own land.”
Personal Roots
Zemmour's views on Israel are not separated from his identity. Born in Montreuil in a household of Algerian Sephardic Jews, he frequently emphasizes his attachment to judaic culture, though he himself portrays himself as a lay French nationalist. His household fled Algeria after the War of Independence, and Zemmour repeatedly described Israel as “the only country that reminds him of France before the fall of values.”
Although his relation with the French judaic community can be strained – among others, through statements relativizing Vichy's function in deportations – Zemmour never hid his admiration for the Israeli model of ethnically defined and powerfully militarized society.
In Zemmour's opinion, the planet present is divided into those who are willing to fight for their survival, and those who surrender. Israel in its communicative is simply a symbol of the first group – a state that does not look at political correctness but responds to fire for attack. For Zemmour, the Gaza Strip is not a humanitarian drama space, but a battlefield where rules of war apply, not empathy. And although many accuse him of dehumanizing Palestinians, he himself maintains that "the real threat to peace is those who relativize terrorism."
Its hard pro-Israeli line contrasts with a more cautious Marine Le Pen approach. Although Rassemblement National leader besides criticises Islamism and declares support for Israel's security, she tries to avoid openly supporting its most controversial actions. Le Pen wants to gain wider support from the voters of the measurement and distance himself from the erstwhile image of the far right. Zemmour goes va banque – he bases his communicative on the conflict of civilization, cultural conflict and ideological front of the West.
Despite media visibility, support for Zemmour and his Reconquęte party! remains low. In the fresh May polls, the group has only 4–5% of support, while the RN remains above 30%. Zemmour's strategy goes to a hard but narrow electorate, and its radicalism prevents the construction of a wider front.
