Bennett, Lapid congratulate 'friend of Israel' Macron on French presidential election win

Israeli leaders and cabinet members congratulated "friend of Israel" French President Emmanuel Macron for his presidential election victory against his far-right rival Marine Le Pen on Sunday.

Macron won around 58 percent of the vote in the second round of the election, seeing him win another term as president.

The centrist has defended Israel against claims of being an apartheid state and is a strong ally of many of Israel's regional allies, such as the UAE and Egypt.

"I have no doubt that the ties between Israel and France will continue to grow stronger," Prime Minister Naftali Bennett wrote in a tweet to congratulate Macron.

Congratulations to my friend @EmmanuelMacron on being re-elected President of France.

Under your leadership, I have no doubt that the ties between Israel and France will continue to grow stronger.
🇮🇱 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/JzIazJ2vn3

— Naftali Bennett בנט (@naftalibennett) April 24, 2022

"Macron (...) is a true friend of Israel," Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid wrote on Twitter.

Congratulations to my good friend @EmmanuelMacron on being reelected as President of France.

President Macron is an important leader of the global center and a true friend of Israel. We’ll continue to work together to strengthen cooperation between our countries. 🇮🇱 🇫🇷

— יאיר לפיד - Yair Lapid🟠 (@yairlapid) April 24, 2022

Defence Minister Benny Gantz, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, and other officials also warmly hailed Macron's victory.

Israeli experts say relations between the two countries thrived during Macron's first tenure, expanding cooperation in the sciences, education, medicine, and culture.

Macron also spoke out against Amnesty International’s damning report published earlier this year, which found Israel to be an 'apartheid state'.

Presidential election rival Marine Le Pen won the biggest share of votes ever achieved by a far-right candidate in France, at almost 42 percent. She ran on a populist and anti-European platform, promising to slash immigration and roll back the rights of French Muslims.

Her father and political predecessor as leader of the far-right, Jean-Marine Le Pen, was notoriously anti-Semitic. He once called the Holocaust a "detail" in history, causing outrage in France and beyond.

Although Le Pen distanced herself from these positions, her growing popularity in France over the past decade has been a matter of concern for the Jewish community in France and French Jews in Israel.

Macron's re-election was also marred by an abstention rate of 28 percent- the highest recorded in a presidential election since 1969.