Behind the Headlines Wooing French Jewish Coters

The delegation, which will be led by Chief Rabbi Jacob Kaplan and will include the president of the Representative Council of French Jewish Organizations (CRIF) Alain de Rothschild, will be entertained for lunch by the President at the Elysee Palace. Observers here believe the invitation is part of an overall attempt to woo the Jewish voters.

Traditionally, France’s Jews were not considered an electoral pressure group because of the deep split between the traditional right-wing and central parties and the Socialist-Communist opposition. Former Premier Jacques Chirac’s entrance into the electoral arena where he is challenging Giscard’s authority, has prompted the two governmental parties, the Chirac Gaullists and the pro-Giscard Independent Republicans, to vie for the Jewish vote.

With municipal elections to be held March 13. the tow parties and the left are now actively competing for Jewish voters, especially in certain Paris districts in which Jews represent over 20 percent of registered voters.

JEWISH CANDIDATES ON ALL LISTS

This struggle is especially bitter in the Paris “Pretzel,” the old Jewish quarter once inhabited by East European Jews and now a stronghold of North African Jewish families. All three parties, the Gaullists, the pro-Giscard Republicans and the left, present electoral lists which include several Jewish candidates.

The Gaullist list is led by a Jewish professor, Mrs. Nicole Chouraqui: the Socialist-Communist list is headed by a Jewish senior government official, Georges Dayan, and the Independent Republicans, by a non-Jew, Jacques dominati, who is a member of the executive committee of the Franco-Israeli Friendship Association and prominent in the Franco-Jewish Friendship. Second on this list is Jacques Finel, a local Jewish businessman.

The municipal elections are considered as especially important in view of the in-fighting in the governmental camp and as a curtain-raiser to the legislative election due to be held next year. As part of this wooing by all parties of the Jewish electorate, Jewish delegations have already met with Socialist, Communist and pro-governmental leaders. This will be the first time, however, that the President himself will confer with France’s Jewish France’s Jewish representatives as such.