Eric Zamor, the Jewish intellectual who recently emerged in the polls as a possible candidate for the presidency of France, was interviewed on Tuesday by the French channel of i24NEWS and clarified that he stands by Israel.
Zamor referred to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and rejected the two-state solution which he claims "belongs to the past", called for a "refresh" of French foreign policy in this context and insisted that the main issue in the Middle East is war between Shiites and Sunnis.
"If Israel decides that Jerusalem is its capital, then it is its capital," the 63-year-old journalist and writer said during an interview with the French channel i24NEWS on Tuesday, while refraining from defining himself as a Zionist.
"I am a French citizen," he stressed.
But at the same time Zamor insisted on giving a different interpretation of the concept, closer to his heart.
"If Zionism is the belief that Israel has a right to self-defense, then yes," he clarified.
Zamor later referred to the Palestinian issue while noting that "I do not believe in a two-state solution. The Palestinians have lost the battle and there will never be a Palestinian state," he added.
Finally he sought to draw attention to "the great conflict in the Middle East between Shiites, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia."
The interview took place at a particularly sensitive time when hours earlier, France's Chief Rabbi Chaim Corsier had sharply attacked the potential candidate who is currently in second place according to recent opinion polls, putting him with a realistic chance of qualifying for the decisive round against incumbent President Emanuel Macron in April 2022. "Antisemitic? Sure. Racist? Absolutely," Rabbi Corsier said of him.
However, Zamor is a Jew, the son of Algerian immigrants married to a Jewish woman.
Most of the storm surrounding his character is related to the hawkish line that leads to immigration issues to which he strongly opposes and his firm views around the dangers of Islam on French culture.
This issue grabs central attention in his speeches along with his opposition to political correctness in the form of the progressive movements among them radical feminism.
All of these reasons make the local Jewish community prefer to stay away from it as much as possible.
Finally, referring to Iran's nuclear ambush, Zamor said that "Israel has the right to defend itself."
