“France won't compromise on Israel because Israel is a miracle,”

"... On the morning of Feb. 8, Sarkozy met at Elysees Palace with released Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, ... “France won't compromise on Israel's security because Israel is a miracle,” Sarkozy said. “France will never accept the questioning of Israel's security.”

But with the French economy stumbling and some Jews less than thrilled with Sarkozy’s record on Middle East-related issues, he may not find the same kind of backing in the community as he did when he won the last French presidential election in 2007.

“A lot of Jews who voted for him are disappointed today,” said Ralph Bohbot, who was one of 1,000 Jewish community members at the CRIF dinner and identified himself as a member of the Alliance Centriste political party. “He didn’t know how to handle the economic crisis.”...

Despite the decline in support for the president among Jews, Sarkozy’s conservative Union for a Popular Movement party still remains far more popular among the country’s 600,000 Jews than among the general French population of 60 million.

Jerome Fourquet, analyst for the French Ifop polling center, says that 40 percent of Jewish voters feel “close to” the UMP, versus just 26 percent for the French in general. Another 40 percent of French Jews are associated with the political left, compared with 48 percent in the general population.

“A part of the Jewish community is pretty worried about its security, and that’s a platform that is pretty favorable to the right,” Fourquet said..."