Israeli politicians hail Macron’s win
"President Macron is an important leader of the global centre and a true friend of Israel..."
Israeli politicians hailed French President Emmanuel Macron’s victory over his far-right rival Marine Le Pen in the country’s presidential elections on Sunday.
Centrist Macron was set to win around 58 per cent of the vote in the second-round run-off compared with Le Pen on 42 per cent, according to projections by polling firms for French television channels based on a sample of the vote count.
Macron is the first French president to win a second term for two decades, but Le Pen’s result is the largest vote share that a far-right candidate has ever received in France, marking the closest the far-right has come to taking power in France. It has also revealed a deeply divided nation.
Writing in Hebrew, French and English, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid referred to the centrist Macron as “my good friend” and shared a photograph of the two men hugging.
“President Macron is an important leader of the global centre and a true friend of Israel. We’ll continue to work together to strengthen cooperation between our countries,” Lapid wrote.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also congratulated Macron, tweeting, “Under your leadership, I have no doubt that the ties between Israel and France will continue to grow stronger.”
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz hailed the win, calling Macron “a bold leader in the international community”.
Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked tweeted her “warmest congratulations” to Macron in French, adding that she hopes to continue to foster the “beautiful relationship” between Paris and Jerusalem.
Israeli Health Minister and head of the left-wing Meretz party Nitzan Horowitz was yet more effusive in his praise for the French leader and offered tacit criticism of his rival, Le Pen, who led the far-right National Rally party.
“Warm wishes to the President of France Emmanuel Macron for winning a second term as president. I have great appreciation for his work, and I am certainly happy about the trouncing he gave Marine Le Pen. This is a good night for France, for Europe and for the world,” Horowitz tweeted.
Right-wing Knesset member Yomtob Kalfon of the Yamina party, who was born in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles, congratulated Macron on Twitter in both French and Hebrew.
“I hope this term will stand out for the even better ties between [France] and [Israel],” he wrote.
MK Emilie Moatti, of the left-wing Labor party, who lived for several years in France, wrote in a tweet, “Vive la France!” Earlier in the day she had offered her public support for Macron.
The outcome caused immense relief in Europe after fears a Le Pen presidency would leave the continent rudderless following Brexit and the departure of long-time German chancellor Angela Merkel.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi called Macron’s victory “great news for all of Europe”.
EU president Charles Michel said the bloc can now “count on France for five more years” while commission chief Ursula von der Leyen rapidly congratulated him saying she was “delighted to be able to continue our excellent cooperation”.
The freshly re-elected 44-year-old French president faces a litany of challenges in his second term, starting with parliamentary elections in June, where keeping a majority will be critical to ensuring he can realise his ambitions to reform France.
Macron will be hoping for a less complicated second term that will allow him to implement his vision of more pro-business reform and tighter EU integration, after a first term shadowed by protests, then the pandemic and finally Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But he will have to win over those who backed his opponents and the millions of French who did not bother to vote.
In a victory speech on the Champ de Mars in central Paris at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, Macron vowed to respond to the anger of voters who backed his far-right rival, saying his new term would not continue unchanged from the past five years.
“An answer must be found to the anger and disagreements that led many of our compatriots to vote for the extreme right,” he told thousands of cheering supporters.
“It will be my responsibility and that of those around me.”
He also pledged a “renewed method” to govern France, adding that this “new era” would not be one of “continuity with the last term which is now ending”.
In a combative speech to supporters in Paris where she accepted the result but showed no sign of quitting politics, Le Pen, 53, said she would “never abandon” the French and was already preparing for June legislative elections.
“The result represents a brilliant victory,” she said amid cheers.
TIMES OF ISRAEL
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