Claude Goasguen, ‘Israel’s best friend in France,' dies of COVID-19

French lawmaker and politician Claude Goasguen passed away at the age of 75 from COVID-19 on Thursday, Radio France International (RFI) reported.  

 

Goasguen was a right-leaning politician famous for his strong support of Israel and the Jews of France and quick temper. He served as a minister for state reform in 1995, mayor of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, which is often seen as the wealthiest section of the French capital, and served as a political advisor to French politician Rachida Dati.

He sat in the National Assembly almost without interruption since 1993.  

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered heartfelt condolences to Goasguen’s family on behalf of himself and the people of Israel via Twitter, calling him “a wonderful friend of the state of Israel who fought bravely against anti-Zionist notions.”  

 

Netanyahu called him “a personal friend” and said “he supported us even in our hardest moments.”

“I mourn the passing of a great friend of our people,” he tweeted.  

 

French National Assembly member Meyer Habib said that he “lost a brother today” and pointed out the late Goasguen “worked tirelessly to improve relations between France and Israel.”  

He called Goasguen "Israel's best friend in France." 

 

Goasguen was famous among the Jews of France for entering parliament in 2016 with a kippah, despite not being Jewish himself, in protest against a wave of antisemitic terror attacks that took place in France at the time.

In 2014 Le Parisien reported that he publicly called for more comprehensive education about the Holocaust, claiming French schools are unable to address it as they are “afraid of the reactions of young Muslims who had been drugged in mosque.” The French Council for Muslim Faith viewed this statement as an insult to the dignity of Muslims.  

 

Goasguen was married and a father of two children.