The new French government named last Friday night and headed by Prime Minister Pierre Mauroy includes Ministers known as warm supporters of Israel. But some key posts are held by men who, out of political objectives or personal ideology, advocate policies which Israel considers contrary to its vital interests. One of the five new Ministers of State, a higher-ranking post than those of the other Cabinet members, is the traditional leader of the pro-Arab line.
Michel Jobert, 60, a non-Socialist appointed by Mauroy as Minister of State in charge of foreign trade, served as President Georges Pompidou’s Foreign Minister. In 1973, when Arab armies invaded Israel at the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War, Jobert declared in Parliament that “no one can blame people who want to return to their former homes.”
REASSURING ARAB STATES
Political circles in France believe that Mauroy, with President Francois Mitterrand’s approval, appointed Jobert to the senior post out of internal political considerations — trying to open the Socialist dominated coalition towards the Centrist parties — but also as a form of reassurance to the Arab States.
The government, which is facing a run on the Franc and a massive flight of capital out of the country, wants to prevent the Arab countries from withdrawing their funds in France which would have further weakened the currency.
Even in Pompidou’s days, Jobert was considered as the most pro-Arab and anti-Israeli member of a generally hostile administration. French press reports say that he has already contacted Arab embassies in Paris and Arab leaders abroad to reassure them about the new regime’s intentions in the Middle East.
The new government consists of 30 Ministers and 12 Deputies. Five of its members hold the rank of Ministers of State which would normally make them members of an inner Cabinet and give them additional weight.
AN OLD FRIEND OF ISRAEL
The one considered as senior, both because of his influence with the Socialist Party and his close personal relations with Mitterrand, is Marseilles Mayor Gaston Defferre. An old party stalwart, who had been close to the late Socialist Premier Guy Mollet, Defferre at 71 is the wise old man of the government.
An old friend of Israel, he is known to be close to many of Israel’s leaders. He has been appointed in charge of the Ministry of Interior and will also be in charge of decentralization of the new administration.
Among the other three, Ministers of State, one Nicole Questiaux, in charge of welfare, is not known to take any interest in foreign affairs or the Middle East. The remaining two are Michel Rocard, who recently met with Yasir Arafat in Beirut and reviewed a Palestine Liberation Organization guard of honor; and the leader of the party’s leftwing, Jean-Pierre Chevenement, who is known as a warm supporter of Palestinian state aspirations.
The new Minister for Foreign Affairs, Claude Cheysson, is a 61-year-old former career diplomat who has served since 1973 as a European Economic Community commissioner of the Community’s Ministers, in charge of relations with developing countries, North Africa, the Middle East and Israel.
Cheysson is known to favor reinforced ties with the Third World and especially Africa and Asia. He advocated a plan providing for Arab petro-dollar investments in under-developed countries with Western guarantees. He is also a strong believer in the Euro-Arab dialogue as well as in the north-south dialogue.
Cheysson has visited Israel several times and knows the area’s problems well. It is generally believed that he is strictly tepid in his support for the Camp David agreements and is a firm believer in the search for a global peace with Palestinian participation.
The new Defense Minister, Charles Hernu, also knows Israel well. He is mayor of Villeurbanne which is twinned with Israel’s Bat Yam and has often headed municipal or Socialist delegations to Israel. He is an enthusiastic admirer of the Israeli defense forces and plans to adopt some of their methods in the French army. Hernu is considered with Defferre as Israel’s best friend in the new government.
ONLY ONE JEW APPOINTED MINISTER
Contrary to earlier expectations, only one Jew was appointed Minister: Jack Lang in charge of culture. Lang is a proud Jew, as the French say, who openly and sometimes energetically asserts his Jewishness. Politically, he is close to the Party’s leftwing and believes that Israel, for its own good, should negotiate with the Palestinians and under certain conditions accept the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
A former Jew, Laurent Fabius, converted by his parents in childhood, has been appointed junior Finance Minister in charge of the budget. Fabius had generally tried to steer clear of any involvement in Jewish or pro-Israeli activities in the past.
Among the appointments to the President’s staff are Jacques Attali, 34, a Jewish economist active in community affairs, and Pierre Dreyfus, 74, an industrialist who headed the state-owned Renault auto industry. Both will serve as Presidential advisors, presumably on economic matters.
MARXIST PHILOSOPHER APPOINTED
Mitterrand also appointed as his advisors on foreign affairs Hubert Verdine, a career official known as a top level expert on Arab affairs, and Regis Debray, 41, a Marxist philosopher who is a close sympathizer of the Palestinians. Debray, who, it is believed, will serve as Mitterrand’s “consultant on ideology,” is a friend of Premier Fidel Castro of Cuba and was arrested in 1967 by Bolivian authorities while working there in an anti-government movement together with the late guerrilla leader Che Guevera.
In all, the new Ministers and advisors are a mixed lot, including some of Israel’s best friends, such as Defferre, and some of its most dangerous opponents, like Jobert. It is assumed, however, that Mitterrand himself will make the basic decisions which could affect major Israeli interests.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
