Rivlin Accuses Le Pen of a New, ‘More Destructive and Dangerous Denial of the Holocaust’

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin accused far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in the French presidential elections on Monday of a new form of Holocaust denial that rejects the responsibility of nations and governments in the Holocaust.

“The message that very often comes from recent political statements is extremely concerning. And everywhere this message is the same and it says ‘we are not responsible for the Holocaust, we are not responsible for the extermination of Jews within our borders,'” Rivlin said in a speech on the anniversary of the remembrance of the 6 million Jews killed during World War II.

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“The candidate for the French presidential elections has denied France’s responsibility for the deportation of Jews to Nazi concentration camps,” Rivlin said on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

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Marine Le Pen, who qualified for the second round of the French presidential elections, said on April 9 that France “is not responsible for Vel d’Hiv,” the arrest and deportation of 13,000 Jews in Paris in 1942. Le Pen was asked about President Jacques Chirac’s decision to acknowledge France’s responsibility for the mass arrests in July 1995.

Israel called Marine Le Pen’s statements “contrary to historical truth.”

“Denial of responsibility for crimes committed during World War II represents a new form of Holocaust denial, more destructive and dangerous than previously known denials,” concluded the Israeli president.