Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Was Nicolas Sarkozy Hated by French Because He’s Jewish?

Bernard Kouchner, the previous foreign minister of France, said that former president Nicolas Sarkozy was widely disliked because of his Jewish origins.

Kouchner made the assertion during an interview Tuesday for RMC radio in responding to the interviewer’s question about Kouchner’s observations about Sarkozy in Kouchner’s newly published book, “Crossed Memories.”

In the book, which was published last month, Kouchner wrote: “Nicolas Sarkozy wasn’t cherished; he was detested also because he was the son of a Hungarian and the grandson of a Jew.”

According to a book on the origins of Sarkozy – a former interior minister for the centrist UMP party who served as president between 2007 and 2012 – his paternal grandfather was a Sephardic Jew of Greek origin named Aaron Mallah.

During the RMC interview, Kouchner said of Sarkozy and his origins: “I think France is a racist country, certainly. But he got on alright, he achieved anyway though originally, I think this issue was present.”

Last month Sarkozy announced he would run for internal elections to lead UMP.

According to recent polls, he received 45 percent of the Jewish vote in the first rounds of the 2007 and 2012 presidential elections despite the Jewish community’s longstanding preference for leftwing candidates.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

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.