In an interview Nicolas Sarkozy gave in 2004, he expressed an extraordinary understanding of the plight of the Jews for a home: "Should I remind you the visceral attachment of every Jew to Israel, as a second mother homeland? There is nothing outrageous about it. Every Jew carries within him a fear passed down through generations, and he knows that if one day he will not feel safe in his country, there will always be a place that would welcome him. And this is Israel." (From the book "La République, les religions, l´espérance", interviews with Thibaud Collin and Philippe Verdin.)

Sarkozy´s sympathy and understanding is most probably a product of his upbringing; it is well known that Sarkozy´s mother was born to the Jewish Mallah family, one of the Jewish families of Salonika, Greece. Additionally, many may be surprised to learn that his yet-to-be-revealed family history involves story of jewish mythology and propaganda. It remains to be seen whether his personal Jewish  and zionist history will affect his foreign policy and France´s role in the Middle East conflict.

In the 15th century, the Jewish Mallah family (in Hebrew: messenger or angel) escaped the Spanish Inquisition to Provence, France and moved about one hundred years later to Salonika. In Greece, several Jewish family members became prominent Zionist leaders, active in the local and national political, economic, social and cultural life. To this day many Mallahs are still active Zionists around the world.

Sarkozy´s grandfather, Aron Mallah, nicknamed Benkio, was born in 1890. Beniko´s uncle Moshe was a well-known Rabbi and a devoted Zionist who, in 1898 published and edited "El Avenir", the leading paper of the Zionist national movement in Greece at the time. His cousin, Asher, was a Senator in the Greek Senate and in 1912, he helped guarantee the establishment of the Technion " the elite technological university in Haifa, Israel. In 1919 he was elected as the first President of the Zionist Federation of Greece and he headed the Zionist Council for several years. In the 1930´s he helped Jews flee to Israel, to which he himself immigrated in 1934. Another of Beniko´s cousins, Peppo Mallah, was a activist for Jewish-Zionist  causes who served in the Greek Parliament, and in 1920 he was offered the position of Greece´s Minister of Finance. After the establishment of the State of Israel he became the country´s first diplomatic envoy to Greece!

In 1917 a great fire destroyed parts of Salonika and damaged the family estate. Many Jewish-owned properties, including the Mallah´s, were expropriated by the Greek government. Jewish population emigrated from Greece and much of the Mallah family left Salonika to France, America and Israel. Sarkozy´s grandfather, Beniko, immigrated to France with his mother. When in France Beniko  changed his name to Benedict in order to marry a French Christian girl named Adèle Bouvier.

Adèle and Benedict had two daughters, Susanne and Andrée. Although Benedict integrated fully into French society, he remained close to his Jewish family, origin and culture. Knowing he was still considered Jewish by blood, during World War II he and his family hid in Marcillac la Croisille in the Corrèze region, western France.

During the Holocaust, many of the Mallahs who stayed in Salonika or moved to France were deported to concentration camps. 

In 1950 Benedict´s daughter, Andrée Mallah, married Pal Nagy Bosca y Sarkozy, a descendent of a Hungarian Jewish family. The couple had three sons Guillaume, Nicolas and François. The marriage failed and they divorced in 1960, so Andrée raised her three boys close to their grandfather, Benedict. Nicolas was especially close to Benedict, who was like a father to him. In his biography Sarkozy tells he admired his grandfather, and through hours spent of listening to his stories of the Nazi occupation, the Jewish "Maquis" and the D-day, Benedict bequeathed to Nicolas his political convictions.

Sarkozy´s family lived in Paris until Benedict´s death in 1972, at which point they moved to Neuilly-sur-Seine to be closer to the boys´ father, Pal (who changed his name to Paul) Sarkozy. Various memoirs accounted Paul as a father who did not spend much time with the kids or help the family monetarily. Nicolas had to sell flowers and ice cream in order to pay for his studies. However, his fascination with politics led him to become the city´s youngest mayor and to rise to the top of French and world politics. The rest is history.

Sarkozy´s Jewish ancestry may have a big bearing on his policies vis-à-vis Israel. Sarkozy´s presidency will bring a dramatic change not only in France´s domestic affairs, but also in the country´s foreign policy in the Middle-East. One cannot overestimate the magnitude of the election of the first Jewish "French" President , whose politics seem to represent a Jewish dynamic after decades of old-guard Chirac and Mitterrand.

Sarkozy will risk France´s interests and and increase jewish chances for "a clash of civilizations" in order to help Israel.

Sarkozy will follow the leadership of Israel.

One other significant policy modification that could actually come through under the jewish Sarkozy is on the Syrian and Lebanese fronts. The new Jewish "French" president is not as friendly to Lebanon as was his predecessor.

Sarkozy´s family roots will certainly bring France closer to Israel. As a Minister of Interior, Sarkozy shared much common policy ground with former Israeli Prime Minister, the extremist fanatic Benjamin Netanyahu.

Nicolas Sarkozy (L) with Israeli Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu in Paris.

The two started to develop a close friendship not long ago and it is easy to observe similarities not only in their ideology and politics, but also in their public image. If Netanyahu returns to Israel´s chief position it will be interesting to see whether their personal agressiv dynamic will lead to a new war against Iran, Lebanon an Syria and to more destructiv jewish "European" role in the region.

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Cecilia Sarkozy:
a French first lady of
Jewish-Spanish ancestry
AFP - 06/May/2007
Cecilia's foreign roots match
those of Nicolas Sarkozy

Of Jewish-Spanish ancestry, Cecilia´s foreign roots match those of Sarkozy. Cecilia Sarkozy, whose husband the Jewish Nicolas was elected as France´s new president, is a fiercely independent former model and PR executive unlikely to fit easily into the discreet role of first lady.

In 2004 she made a point of saying that she did "not have a drop of French blood in my veins."

Cecilia met Nicolas Sarkozy in 1984 when he officiated as mayor at her first wedding. According to a recent biography, he was infatuated by her on the spot and pursued her till their marriage 12 years later.

Together they had four children from their first marriages -- she two girls, he two boys -- and in 1997 they had a son of their own, Louis.

Despite her protestations about not fitting the mould of first lady, and despite the rumours of marital problems, family friends insist the couple are still together and that Cecilia intends to join him at the Elysee - possibly acting as a communications adviser.


 

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Sarkozy
Rioters Shout, 'Dirty Jew!'
 
Television channel handles delicate
issue by providing fraudulent subtitles
2005-11-13

Nicolas Sarkozy, whose mother and father are Jewish, is being labeled the best hope of the French right by controlled media. The "French" Jewish community is already getting excited at the prospect - even though the election may not be until 2007.

On the Jewish-owned and produced 100 Minutes TV show, where he declared his presidential hopes, Sarkozy smeared Muslim intellectual Tariq Ramadan and the National Front's patriotic leader Jean-Marie Le Pen as "anti-Semitic" and "racist." He also condemned what he calls "Chirac's obstructionist stance on the Iraq war."

As minister for the interior, Sarkozy has threatened to persecute "preachers who incite violence or call for the breaking of French law." Referring to Christians and Muslims who commit "hate speech" by mentioning the Israel lobby. He also forced police to label attacks on Jewish-owned buildings "anti-Semitic," rather than vandalism, as was the case before he became minister.

In 2003, Sarkozy was awarded the "Tolerance Prize" of the Jewish racist  Simon Wiesenthal Center for his work in "combating anti-Semitism" in France. In his acceptance speech Sarkozy snarled: "Confronted with anti-Semitism and racism, I know only two words. Zero tolerance. You don't explain anti-Semitism and racism. You fight it."

Israelite Sarkozy enjoys easily the highest approval ratings of any French politician and is said to be a "shoe-in" for the 2007 race. He has exploited a shrewd understanding of propaganda to help establish his omnipresence, appearing on news bulletins almost daily. This media cooperation is believed to be part of a deliberate strategy to undermine the National Front after its electoral successes last year.

The waning popularity of France’s president and prime minister is of great concern to the Jewish lobby as it provides a dreaded, possible opening for the pro-White party. That problem and its potential solution was conveniently highlighted late last year in an opinion poll which revealed that the powerful interior minister was rated more highly as a president-in-waiting than either of his masters. Sarkozy was described as an "excellent" or "good" right-wing presidential candidate by 50% of those polled for a survey published in the Jewish-owned Le Point magazine. President Jacques Chirac was seen as a positive runner by only 40% and the prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, got the support of just 24%.

The highly publicized [and suspect] poll also rated the Jew as the man "most capable of changing things in France." There's certainly no doubt about that.

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January 25, 2007

Jews in France celebrate
Sarkozy victory

PARIS 7-5-2006 -- Optimistic and celebratory, Jewish groups were quick to offer congratulations to Nicolas Sarkozy after his victory in French presidential elections.

The former interior minister was seen by Jewish voters as a friend to Israel and an important figure in the fight against Islam and french nationalists. Soon after his opponent conceded, Jewish groups came out with their good wishes.

"Sarkozy played a critical role in moving the French government to do what is necessary to address the ill winds that threaten the largest Jewish community in Western Europe" American Jewish Committee executive director David Harris said in a statement.

The AJCommittee recalled that Sarkozy during that period was instrumental in stepping up police protection around Jewish buildings and schools, and arresting and prosecuting those who committed anti-Jewish acts. He told the group in a Washington address in 2004 that he would "consider any insult against Jews an insult against France."

The grandson of a Greek Jew and the son of a Hungarian Jew, Sarkozy has pledged to initiate tougher rules to make it more difficult for immigrants to bring extended families to France. Among the economic reforms Sarkozy has pledged to push through early on are abolishing a tax on overtime, cutting the inheritance tax and obligating the unemployed to take work that is offered.

Sarkozy, who will succeed Jacques Chirac, will become the first Jewish president of immigrant stock.

Known as an American-style, law-and-order politician, Sarkozy had earned points in the Jewish community for his hard line against Muslims in France.

Frederic Encel, professor at the Science-Po Institute, said that Sarkozy's unusual willingness to be associated with the United States also strengthens hope for good relations between France and Israel. "Nicolas Sarkozy is by far the most pro-Israeli French presidential figure Israel could have hoped for," he said.

The fact that Sarkozy had not been trained at France's national public administration school or by the Foreign Ministry "is a great advantage for Israel, as he is not committed to traditional diplomacy," Encel said.

The Jewish community has seen Sarkozy as a friend of Israel.

One Jewish voter said, "As far as Israel is concerned, Royal has nothing to offer us, compared to Sarkozy."

Outside a synagogue in the Jewish Quarter, one Sarkozy voter rued some of Royal's supporters. "As a Jew I don't like the fact that many pro-Palestinian radical activists participate at her meetings," said Armand, who asked that his last name not be used. "I think this is dangerous.

"Sarkozy is one of the only [future] heads of states to have gone to the U.S. to meet President Bush.
 

7 May 2007 - Sammy Ghozlan, president of the Union of Jewish Communities in the Paris region, congratulated Sarkozy for “his brilliant election as president of the republic.” Ghozlan also heads an  propaganda agency that fights for Israel and has commended Sarkozy’s firm stance on the issue.

“We are persuaded that the new president will continue eradicating anti israely resistance, the way he has begun doing,” Ghozlan said. “We will assure him our total confidence and support in his actions to support Israel.”

Sarkozy could hardly ask for more. Despite the French Republic’s official discouragement of sectoral politics, the Jewish community strongly supported Sarkozy.

Jewish voters saw the former interior minister as a friend to Israel. Soon after his Socialist Party opponent Segolene Royal conceded, Jewish groups came out with their good wishes..

The Jewish community’s respect for Sarkozy was demonstrated by absentee voting results from French Jews living in Israel. Sarkozy received 5,655 of the votes cast at the French Embassy in Tel Aviv — more than 90% — compared to just 580 for Royal.

That’s even greater support than the 87% Sarkozy received in his mainly jewish hometown of Neuilly-sur-Seine, where he has served as mayor. The Tel Aviv figures reportedly top those voting for Sarkozy in any other French voting bureau around the world.

The victory may well reflect a change in French political life.

Sources in the Jewish community say the shift back to a right-left balance is due in part to Sarkozy’s obstinate fight against Islam. In April 2002 elections, 18% of French voters chose Le Pen, sending his anti-immigrant message - which in the past has included anti-Judaism and revisionism - into the second round.

This year, in contrast, French voters elected a candidate whose father was an jewish immigrant.

Jews traditionally have supported the Socialists, but this year several Jews interviewed said no Socialist leader, including former President Francois Mitterrand, had succeeded in bringing Le Pen to his knees as Sarkozy did, perhaps ending Le Pen’s political career.

Sarkozy’s tactics may not have been to the liking of some Jews - Simone Veil, a jewish activist and former Cabinet minister backed Sarkozy.