Israeli Ambassador to France Joshua Zarka hosted National Rally leader Marine Le Pen on Wednesday after Jerusalem ended its boycott of the right-wing politician, the Jewish state’s mission in Paris told local media.
Zarka “discreetly” met with Le Pen, the embassy confirmed to the Le Parisien newspaper. The meeting was not announced through official diplomatic channels.
Le Pen in recent days also sat down with Lebanon’s ambassador to Paris, Rabih El Chaer. France administrated Lebanon as a mandate from 1923 to 1945, and has since been a major player in that nation’s political and economic arenas.
Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter told JNS on Tuesday that Jerusalem prefers “to keep the French as far away as possible from pretty much everything, but particularly when it comes to peace negotiations,” speaking during a press briefing that followed direct talks between Israeli and Lebanese officials in Washington, D.C.
The French “are not needed. They are not a positive influence, particularly not in Lebanon,” Leiter said in response to a question from JNS.
In a rare show of unity, Le Pen joined French President Emmanuel Macron last week in condemning Israeli strikes targeting Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“It is our country’s duty to protect Lebanon, its people, and its sovereignty. This country is once again a collateral victim of the tensions in the region, suffering massive bombings on its capital,” she posted to X.
“I support France’s proposal to include Lebanon in the framework of the regional ceasefire,” added Le Pen, in reference to the two-week truce with the Islamic Republic.
Wednesday’s meeting between Zarka and Le Pen came as the National Rally leader faces a legal bid to ban her from running in France’s April 2027 presidential vote. A ruling expected in July will determine whether Le Pen remains eligible to stand for office after she was found guilty of embezzling European Union funds last year.
Jerusalem long boycotted Europe’s far-right parties, including National Rally and its predecessor, the National Front, which was founded by Le Pen’s father and has a history of xenophobic and even antisemitic rhetoric. Marine Le Pen has publicly condemned antisemitism, worked to remove it from the party and sought out closer ties with the Jewish state.
However, Israel’s Foreign Ministry has worked to establish contacts with right-wing parties in France, Spain and Sweden that it had previously boycotted.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar decided to establish contacts with the National Rally, as well as Spain’s Vox Party and the Swedish Democrats Party, he announced in February 2025.
Separately, operating largely under the radar of official foreign policy channels, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli has quietly been weaving a network of connections with European right-wing parties since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, a senior Foreign Ministry official told Walla last year, accusing Chikli of making contact with “elements who are a red flag when it comes to the official position of the Israeli government.”
