Louis Lingg writes "The liberal Israeli paper Ha'aretz has posted a profile of and interview with French extreme right-nationalist and presidential candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen: Le Pen ultimate by Adar Primo.

Equally disturbing: Le Pen's victory: The Beginning of the End of the Jewish Post-War Ascendancy?-- a rant by Israeli journalist Israel Shamir posted at the Palestine Chronicle. Shamir argues that Le Pen's surprising electoral upset was due to French fears of a 'Judeo-Nazi occupation.'

On a-infos the French syndicalists of Cercle Social proclaim the big winner to be abstentionism, and rather than a vote for Chirac to defeat Le Pen, they urge a General Strike."

Le Pen's bio in precis: 'born in the port city of Trinite-sur-Mer, in the Bretagne province,
on June 20, 1928. When he was 14, his father, a fisherman, was killed when his ship hit a
mine that had been planted by the Germans. In 1949, he was elected president of the radical
right-wing student union at the University of Paris law school, where he got his degree. In
1954, he enlisted in the paratroops and was sent to serve in Indochina. In 1955, he was
discharged and joined Pierre Poujade's populist movement. At age 28, Le Pen became the
youngest member of parliament in France's history. He reenlisted in the army the same year,
participated in the Suez campaign and was subsequently sent to Algeria.

In 1972, he founded the National Front. The first time he ran for president, in 1974, he got
less than 1 percent of the vote. In 1988, his support leapt to 14.4 percent, and in 1995, it went
up to 15.2 percent. He has also been a member of the European Parliament since 1984.'

The Ha'aretz interview was conducted before the recent French election; Le Pen predicts surpassing Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and making it to the run-off election against Chirac."