European right-wing alliance Patriots.eu announced on Sunday that the Likud had joined their political alliance as an observer member.
Patriots.eu is a political alliance of right-wing and far Right European national political parties. It is primarily aimed at organizing the various right-wing parties in the European Parliament.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban founded the group and is currently led by Jordan Bardella, head of the far-right National Rally in France.
We warmly welcome the @Likud_Party as an Observer Member. Together, we will strengthen our bonds and promote our shared values of democracy, freedom, and cultural heritage. pic.twitter.com/BEVSIaZMmY
— Patriots.eu (@PatriotsEU) February 9, 2025
However, certain member parties of Patriots.eu remain controversial within Europe's Jewish communities, particularly the Austrian party, Freedom Party (FPÖ) for allegedly holding similar views to the Nazis.
The Austrian Union of Jewish Students posted on their X/Twitter that the FPÖ "more than earned the title of cellar Nazis.” Further, reports, including local online news site OE24, quote the President of the Jewish Community of Vienna and the Federal Association of Jewish Religious Communities in Austria, Oskar Deutsch, as also referring to FPÖ as "cellar Nazis."
Heute ist der letzte Tag unserer Mahnwache „Gegen Volkskanzler und Kellernazis“. Wieder ab 19:30 am Burgtor.Am Tag vor der Wahl bestätigen sich unsere Sorgen: Mit der FPÖ wird möglicherweise bald eine Partei regieren, die sich den Titel “Kellernazis” mehr als verdient hat. pic.twitter.com/gC1I4DxJpE
— Jüdische österreichische Hochschüler:innen (@joehwien) September 28, 2024
"Cellar Nazis" is a derogatory term used by German-speaking Jewish communities in an attempt to categorize far-right political views that may be more open about possessing pro-Nazi ideologies behind closed doors.
Eldad Beck argued in an analysis in The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that this is, "of course, a generalization. The FPÖ is not a Nazi party, and most of its voters are not neo-Nazis. However, the FPÖ still has many unsolved Nazi problems in its ranks."
Other members of Patriots.eu, including France's National Rally and Hungary's Fidesz, led by Viktor Orban, have adopted an emphatically pro-Israel stance, particularly since the October 7 massacre.
Other prominent member parties are Law and Justice (Poland), Vox (Spain, and Lega (Italy), led by Georgia Meloni.
Likud will be the first non-European party to join in any capacity.
Critics on social media, particularly Reddit, have claimed this as evidence that "Zionism is fascism," with another critic stating that "Nazism is evolving and aligning with Zionism."
AfD attempts to build right-wing international ties
A notable country without a representative party in the Patriots.EU alliance is Germany.
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party wishes to join, but despite some inaccurate reports stating they are part of the alliance, has so far been refused.
According to a report in The Times on Tuesday, this may be due to clashes between AfD leadership and notable politicians within Patriots.eu, including Italy's Meloni and France's National Rally, formerly led by Marine Le Pen, who is often outspoken against AfD.
Le Pen even went as far as reemphasizing that her party would never sit in the same group as AfD members in the European Parliament, according to Le Monde in May 2024.
In an attempt to rebuild ties with international partners, AfD's leadership has attempted to arrange bilateral meetings of senior politicians. This included Alice Weidel, AfD's nominee as Germany's chancellor in the upcoming election, meeting Orban in Hungary, and Tino Chrupalla, the co-leader, meeting with FPÖ's leadership in Vienna, both on Tuesday, according to The Times.
AfD is aiming to make major gains in the upcoming German election, with polls quoted by The Times stating it is likely they will receive 20% of the vote as things stand.
AfD has also faced criticism, including from Germany's Jewish community, of holding views that are allegedly too similar to the Nazi party.