Israel snubs EU delegation due to far-Right MP

Israel said on Friday it would not welcome a delegation of European Union parliamentarians planning to visit the country this week if it included a far-right French member.

The Foreign Ministry said Israel objected to the inclusion of Marine Le Pen, daughter of far-right French leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, in the delegation.

A spokesman for the European Parliament said the delegation had postponed the trip.

"The delegation contained a senior member (Marine Le Pen) of a political party which, unfortunately, is both racist and a Holocaust denier," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.

"For that reason we said that if such a delegation with such a composition would come to Israel they would not receive official meetings," he added.

The delegation was scheduled to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories between October 28 and November 4. It was expected to meet Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

"We wanted to receive delegations from the European parliament, but the composition of the delegation made that impossible," Regev said.

A spokeswoman for the European Parliament said it was "a postponement due to technical problems that could affect the success of the mission", but a parliamentary source confirmed it was due to Israel's refusal to accept Le Pen.

Jean-Marie Le Pen said Israel's refusal to meet his daughter ran "contrary to diplomatic traditions" and "basic democracy".

Le Pen, who caused an upset in France's 2002 presidential election when he finished second, was convicted and fined in 1990 for inciting racial hatred and for saying in 1996 that the gas chambers used by the Nazis were "merely a detail in the history of the Second World War".

Marine Le Pen, who is seen as the most likely successor to her 78-year-old father, told Reuters last week that her planned trip to Israel would be an opportunity to "clear up a certain number of misunderstandings".