Fifteen Jewish intellectuals published a letter arguing against the
notion that the French Jewish community will vote as a bloc for Nicolas Sarkozy in upcoming presidential elections.
The text in Le Monde, initiated by lawyer Patrick Klugman, former president of the
French Jewish students organization UEJF and former vice president of the human-rights group SOS Racisme, denounced “taking the Jewish community as a
hostage by proclaiming that the Jewish community as a whole has chosen one”
candidate.
Klugman acknowledged that many French Jews are attracted by Sarkozy’s pro-Israel stances and his fight against
anti-Semitism, but protested the “communitarian approach” developed by
Sarkozy – who, according to Klugman, prefers to speak to individual communities instead of addressing himself to all French citizens.
