Le Pen is contesting the presidential election for a fifth time [AFP]

Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the National Front, made the appeal in comments printed in the Hebrew-language Maariv newspaper on Thursday, ahead of his fifth presidential run.
 
"Jews who are French and linked to France, and whose interests are those of France, should vote for me as a bloc," Le Pen said.

Le Pen, who sparked outrage in 1987 when he described World War II Nazi death camps as a "detail of history", does not have widespread support among Jewish voters. 

But the 78-year-old politician said in Thursday's interview: "I have Jewish friends and there are Jews in my party… the Jews are divided in France according to their social status."

'No denial'

"I did not deny the Holocaust," he told Maariv. "I only said simply that the gas chambers did not constitute but a detail in the history of World War II. It is not something that should provoke anger."

"The fact is that some Jews voted for me in 2002. They no doubt sense better than me the dangers that face our country because of the situation with security."

Le Pen is currently in fourth place ahead of the first-round vote on Sunday.

He became a force in French politics in 2002 when he qualified for the run-off vote against eventual winner Jacques Chirac, beating Lionel Jospin, the Socialist candidate.

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