ANKARA

In a break with its past, and with fresh legislative elections set for this weekend, France’s far right is now supporting Israel rather than being critical of it.

After being anti-Israel in its early years, the far-right party National Rally (RN), now under Marine Le Pen, who took the party helm in 2011, has changed its position radically.

The party won more than 30% of the vote in the June 9 European Parliament elections, a blow that led French President Emmanuel Macron to acknowledge his centrist bloc’s defeat, dissolve parliament, and announce snap elections, set to begin on Sunday and conclude a week later.

The announcement jolted France across the political spectrum.

The Israeli offensive on Gaza, which has claimed over 37,000 lives since last October, and the recognition of Palestinian statehood were among the top issues for the parties in this context.

Since its founding in 1972, the National Rally has been accused of using antisemitic language, and Marine Le Pen’s father, the party’s founding leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, was known for his criticism of Israeli attacks on Palestinians.

The elder politician went so far as to describe the Gaza Strip as a “concentration camp where people are deprived the chance to defend themselves” – an assessment many modern critics of Israel would tend to agree with.

In contrast, however, Marine Le Pen, argues that the National Rally has been in favor of the creation of a Jewish state throughout its history, calling it a longtime Zionist party.

Last November, weeks into what would become Israel’s months-long attack on the Gaza Strip, Marine Le Pen and current National Rally President Jordan Bardella joined pro-Israeli protests despite criticism.

Presenting his party’s government plan ahead of the snap polls, Bardella on June 24 said: “Recognizing Palestine now would be recognizing terrorism.”

Macron, for his part, previously said several times that recognizing Palestine was not a “taboo,” but it should be done at the right time.

In contrast, the New Popular Front, the alliance of France’s left-wing parties, vowed, in its government plan, to recognize Palestine immediately after taking office.