The French Senate is expected to launch an Israel Allies Caucus next year, in an expansion of faith-based diplomacy in the politically hostile heart of Western Europe.
The move comes amid an Israeli diplomatic push from Africa and Europe to the Pacific Islands after a volatile period of international opprobrium stemming from the fallout of its two-year war against Hamas in Gaza.
The new bipartisan caucus will join a global network of over 60 pro-Israel parliamentary groups worldwide run under the aegis of the Washington, D.C.-based Israel Allies Foundation, which spearheads faith-based diplomacy to strengthen international support for the State of Israel.
“You have to have a sense of political courage and lucidity post October 7 because supporting Israel in France is going against French foreign policy in a hostile political environment,” Randy Yaloz, France director for the Israel Allies Foundation, told JNS, referring to the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel that sparked the war. “I’m proud that in such an environment there are French senators willing to stand up and support Israel.”
The new caucus is expected to be launched in February, with plans underway to set up a similar group in the other French house of parliament, the National Assembly, later next year as well, he said.
France-Israel parliamentary friendship groups exist already in the bicameral legislature, but the new caucus will be part of an international network of over 1,600 parliamentarians working for Israel.
Additional Israel Allies caucuses in Europe are planned next year in the parliaments of Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria.
“Even at a time when Europe has increasingly become a battleground for lawfare in an arena marked by political pressure, disinformation and diplomatic hostility against the State of Israel, we are continuing to form new connections across the continent,” said Leo van Doesburg, Europe director of the Israel Allies Foundation.
