Far-right European politicians attend Jerusalem antisemitism conference

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned against "the fires of antisemitism" in Western Europe at a conference on Thursday overshadowed by a boycott by several Jewish speakers over the presence of a number of right-wing and far-right European politicians.

The conference in Jerusalem, organized by the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, was billed as a "shared dialogue on addressing contemporary antisemitism".

But it was shunned by several speakers, including the head of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, and French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy who announced they would not attend because of the presence of speakers, who included Jordan Bardella, from France's National Rally party.

Several attended a separate event on antisemitism hosted by Israel's president, Isaac Herzog, on Wednesday.

Netanyahu said antisemitism was growing in European capitals, the Western press and social media and in elite U.S. universities. "It must be resolutely fought by civilized societies to protect their futures."

Several speakers drew a connection between what Netanyahu called "the systematic alliance between the ultra-progressive left and radical Islam" and several speakers praised and thanked U.S. President Donald Trump.

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli welcomed members of the European parliament, including Bardella, who described his party as "the best shield for our Jewish compatriots".

The party, formerly known as the National Front, has long made efforts to shed the racist and antisemitic image associated with its founder, the late Jean-Marie Le Pen, who once described the Nazi Holocaust as a "detail of history".

In a keynote speech, Bardella said the fight against anti-Jewish hate was a "head-on, moral and political fight".

"We must tirelessly recall that anti-zionism is very often an alibi for antisemitism which is the ideology of those who cannot endure the existence of a Jewish nation," he said.

Chikli said far-right and right-wing politicians from the European parliament, including Bardella, had faced "lies spread against them by those who slander the State of Israel worldwide."

(Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Ros Russell)