Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

European Far Right Celebrates Donald Trump Victory

AMSTERDAM (JTA) —  Far-right leaders from across Europe congratulated Donald Trump on his victory in the U.S. presidential election, which they celebrated as a historic turning point.

Geert Wilders, a Dutch politician on trial for promising to make sure that the Netherlands has fewer Moroccans, wrote Wednesday on Twitter: “Congratulations, !! A historic victory, a revolution! We, too, will give back our country to Dutchmen!”

Trump, who has alienated large segments of American society during his campaign with rhetoric that many deemed discriminatory to Muslims, Latinos and other groups, was elected Tuesday as the next U.S. president, sweeping to victory in at least 29 states with 288 electoral votes.

In France, the leader of the far-right National Front party, Marine Le Pen, wrote: ”Congratulations to the new president of the United States and to the American people, [set] free!”

Both Wilders, who speaks often of his attachment to and love for Israel and the “Judeo-Christian tradition,” and Le Pen have fought off accusations that their respective parties are encouraging anti-Semitism in addition to the anti-Muslim policies they openly espouse. In both countries, the representative bodies of the Jewish communities have shunned Le Pen and Wilders. However, they enjoy some support among their countries’ Jewish voters, many of whom feel threatened by the rise of jihadism.

The Greek neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party also celebrated Trump’s victory with a special video message by Ilias Kasidiaris, a lawmaker and party spokesperson. In the video, he is seen calling Trump’s victory “a major global change,” that he said “has begun and will continue with the victory of nationalists in Austria, of Marine Le Pen in France, and the Golden Dawn in Greece.”

In Britain, Nigel Farage, the leader of the UKIP nationalist party, who is reviled by many British Jews for what they consider xenophobic policies, wrote on Twitter: “I hand over the mantle to @RealDonaldTrump! Many congratulations. You have fought a brave campaign.”

By contrast, the Board of Deputies of British Jews also congratulated Trump in one of the first reactions by any Jewish community outside the United States.

“After a divisive campaign, I hope that Mr. Trump will move to build bridges and ensure that America’s standing as a beacon of progress, tolerance and free thinking remains strong,” wrote Jonathan Arkush, the board’s president, in a statement.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.