After a past marked by anti-Semitism, far-right parties now often portray themselves as defenders of Jews, but critics accuse them of shifting their stance solely for political gain.
Last month several far-right leaders travelled to Israel for a government-organised conference on combating anti-Semitism.
They included Jordan Bardella, president of France's National Rally; Kinga Gal, an MEP for Hungary's Fidesz party and Milorad Dodik, the leader of Bosnia's Serb-dominated territory Republika Srpska, who is an ally of Vladimir Putin and wanted by Interpol.
"Hatred of Jews and the state of Israel is a global scourge that we must fight relentlessly," Bardella said, repeating his party's new mantra that the National Rally (RN) "is today the best shield for our compatriots of Jewish faith".
Such statements stand in stark contrast to views expressed by Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the RN under its former name the National Front, who famously called the Holocaust "a detail of the history of World War II".
His daughter Marine Le Pen, who pushed him out of the party as part of her reform drive, marked her distance from her father "concerning all forms of anti-Semitism", said Nonna Mayer, a political scientist at France's CNRS research body.
Marine Le Pen, who now heads her party's parliamentary group, had already embarked on a policy dubbed "de-demonisation" when Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023.
The assault presented the RN with an "unexpected opportunity to exploit anti-Semitism so they could position themselves as the defenders of Jews in France and Israel", Mayer said.
- 'Zero tolerance', 'safe space' -
Similar rhetoric is heard elsewhere in Europe among identity-based right-wing parties, for whom immigration into Europe is a top policy issue.
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