Jacques Soustelle, Minister of Information in Gen. Charles de Gaulle’s Cabinet and leader of the Union for the New Republic, largest party in the French National Assembly, denied today that right-wing anti-Semitic elements had found a home within his UNR Party.
“A true Gaullist can be neither anti-Semitic nor racist,” M. Soustelle declared in a press interview. He further denied that there was a “Jewish problem” in France, pointing out that among the leaders of his new party were to be found a number of Jews. He noted, too, that many Jews had been put forward as candidates by the UNR and some had been elected in last month’s electoral victory.
M. Soustelle, president of the Franco-Israel Alliance, who has been openly pro-Israel for a long time and is occasionally called a Judeophile, has campaigned for different Jewish causes. He has fought for Israel’s inclusion in the Western alliance, and has expressed the view that France’s Middle East policy must be tied to understanding of and close cooperation with Israel.
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