Israel slams Marine Le Pen over Vel d'Hiv roundup claim

Israel has slammed Marine Le Pen after the French presidential candidate claimed her country was not responsible for the roundup of Jews during World War Two.

Acting under the orders of Nazi officers in July 1942, French police arrested 13,000 Jews in occupied Paris and crowded them into a cycling track before most were sent to Auschwitz.

Speaking about the Vel d'Hiv roundup, the Front National leader claimed the French were not to blame, adding: "If there are people responsible, it's those who were in power at the time. It's not France."

In an interview with French media, she added: "We have taught our children that they had every reason to criticise France, to see only the darkest historical aspects perhaps.

"I want them to be proud of being French once more."

Israel's foreign ministry said it "condemns" Ms Le Pen's comments.

It said: "The declaration is contrary to the historical truth, which has been expressed by French presidents who have recognised the country's responsibility for the fate of French Jews who died in the Holocaust."

In an attempt to clarify her comments, Ms Le Pen later issued a statement saying she considered that the French state was in exile in London during the Nazi occupation and that her position "in no way exonerates the effective and personal responsibility of the French people who took part in the horrible Vel d'Hiv roundup and in all the atrocities committed during this period".

Describing the French wartime authority as "illegal", she added: "The Vichy regime was not France".

French president Francois Hollande and former leader Jacques Chirac have both issued formal apologies over the Vel d'Hiv roundup, with the latter saying the incident was a crime committed "in France, by France".

However, in 1994 then-president Francois Mitterrand refused to acknowledge responsibility for the deportations, saying "the republic had nothing to do with that".

Ms Le Pen's centrist rival Emmanuel Macron said her comments were "a serious mistake".

"We must not be complacent or minimise what the National Front is today.

"Some had forgotten that Marine Le Pen is the daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen."

Last April, Mr Le Pen was fined €30,000 (£25,590) for describing Nazi gas chambers as a "detail" of World War Two.

He was convicted of contesting crimes against humanity.

In 2012, the Front National founder was convicted of the same charge after saying France's Nazi occupation had been "not particularly inhumane".