First time • religious Jew elected to French parliament

Meir Habib, a religious Jew, citizen of France, was elected to the French parliament.

Habib will be the first religious Jew ever elected to the French parliament.

Habib, 52, is the father of four children and served until recently as chairman of the CRIF - the umbrella organization of French Jews. When he decided to run for the job he had to resign as chairman of the organization for legal reasons.

Habib is a veteran public person who for thirty years has been fighting anti-Semitism in France and divides his time between France and Jerusalem.

His father, Emmanuel Habib z"l headed the Tunisian Jewish community in France, and one of the first founders of the training system in France and established the first Kosher winery.

Meir Haviv's brother is Rabbi Moshe Haviv, Dayan in the Beit El in Binyamin and Rav in the yeshiva gedolah.

During his visits to Israel, Haviv is accustomed to visit rebbes and even in the home of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who had already congratulated him on his appointment.

Haviv is close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and in a rare move, the Prime Minister was photographed for a support video for Haviv, in which he even said a few words in French: "Meir is a very good friend of mine, a good friend of Israel. He fought for Israel in every forum, it burns in his soul."

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!