French Jewish Lawmaker Stirs Controversy With Hebrew Prayers — And Focus On Israel

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By Daniel J. Solomon June 20, 2017

Meyer Habib, who represents in the French Parliament nationals living abroad in eight countries including Israel, stirred a controversy this week after he gave a victory speech in which he thanked God and prayed in Hebrew.

“I can’t stop myself from thanking you and also thanking the All Powerful, because while we are in a secular republic, I am a believer,” Habib, who lives in Israel and is a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a video.

Habib’s campaign – including the victory speech – departed from norms in France, where officials usually refrain from public affirmations of faith.

“He doesn’t respect voters in the whole of the constituency, promising to do nothing for them, and only focusing on Israel,” said Drory, a member of French President Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche party.

Habib, who ran on the ballot of the center-right Union of Democrats and Independents, blasted Drory as a “pro-Palestinian candidate” and a backer of “anti-religious state secularism.” The election occurred on Sunday, when French voters cast ballots in the second round of the country’s legislative elections.

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

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