The French Left and Israel: from the Creation of the Jewish State to the Invasion of Lebanon

Abstract

The rival Jewish and Arab nationalist movements were a particular problem for French socialists because of France’s history of colonialism in the Middle East and North Africa, combined with Germany’s wartime occupation of France and its consequences for French Jews. The Suez War highlighted the problematic aspects of the Israeli– Arab conflict because it occurred when Arab nationalism was high on the French political agenda (Johnson, 1981, p. 42). The 1967 hostilities further tested the French left’s commitment to anticolonialist politics, and the 1982 war in Lebanon challenged the apparently pro–Israel government led by François Mitterrand. This chapter looks at the evolution of the French left’s attitude towards Israel and how its approach compared with that of the British left. The first section considers changes in the Socialist Party’s perceptions of Israel. The second section examines the PCF’s attitude towards Israel and the third compares the French and British left.