Sarah Knafo (born 24 April 1993) is a French

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

, member of the

Cour des Comptes The ''Cour des Comptes'' (, "Court of Accounts") is France's supreme audit institution, under French law an administrative court. As such, it is independent from the legislative and executive branches of the French Government. However, the 1946 ...

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

, author and politician. She was elected as a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Biography

Knafo was born in

Les Pavillons-sous-Bois Les Pavillons-sous-Bois () is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. History The commune of Les Pavillons-sous-Bois was created on 3 January 1905 by detaching its territory from the commune o ...

to a family of

Maghrebi Jewish :''See Mizrahi Jews for more information about the Eastern Jews.'' Maghrebi Jews ( or , ''Maghrebim''), are a Jewish diaspora group with a long history in the Maghreb region of North Africa, which includes present-day Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, ...

ancestry who had roots in Algeria and Morocco. Her grandparents moved to France in the wake of the

Six Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states, primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June 1967. Military hostilities broke ...

. Her mother works as a

hypnotherapist Hypnotherapy, also known as hypnotic medicine, is the use of hypnosis in psychotherapy. Hypnotherapy is generally not considered to be based on scientific evidence, and is rarely recommended in clinical practice guidelines. However, several p ...

and her father is a businessman. Knafo moved to Paris as a teenager.

Professional career

Knafo graduated with a degree in public administration at

Sciences Po Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

after a

Baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...

in 2011 and then economics and political science at the Panthéon-Sorbonne University in 2014. During her studies, she worked as an intern at the French embassy in Libya (at the time relocated to Tunisia). During that time, she also conducted research into illegal immigration routes from Africa into Europe.. In 2020, she began working as a civil servant in

Seine-Saint-Denis () is a department of France located in the Grand Paris metropolis in the region. In French, it is often referred to colloquially as ' or ' ("ninety-three" or "nine three"), after its official administrative number, 93. Its prefecture is Bobi ...

and became a magistrate. In 2021, ''

L'Express (, stylized in all caps) is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre-right in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''R� ...

'' reported that she has been advising

Éric Zemmour Éric Justin Léon Zemmour (; born 31 August 1958) is a French History of far-right movements in France, far-right politician, essayist, writer and political journalist and pundit. He was an editor and panelist on ''Face à l'Info'', a daily show ...

, a friend of her family, in the event of putting his name for the candidacy for the

2022 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 10 and 24 April 2022. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a Two-round system, runoff was held, in which Emmanuel Macron defeated Marine Le Pen and was re-elected as President of France. ...

. ''

L'Obs (), previously known as (2014–2024), (1964–2014), (1954–1964), (1953–1954), and (1950–1953), is a weekly French news magazine. Based in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, ' is one of the three most prominent French news magazines a ...

'' magazine also claimed she had facilitated meetings between Zemmour and

Nicolas Dupont-Aignan Nicolas Dupont-Aignan (; born 7 March 1961), sometimes referred to by his initials NDA, is a French politician serving since 2008 as president of the minor party Debout la France. He was its only member in the National Assembly (France), Nationa ...

, as well as

Laurent Wauquiez Laurent Timothée Marie Wauquiez (; born 12 April 1975) is a French politician who has presided over the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes from 2016 to 2024. He is a member of The Republicans (LR), which he led from 2017 to 2019 follow ...

and

Marion Maréchal Marion Jeanne Caroline Maréchal (; ; born 10 December 1989), known as Marion Maréchal-Le Pen from 2010 to 2018, is a French politician who has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2024 European Parliament election in Fran ...

. In October 2021, she was named as one of Zemmour's campaign directors for his presidential campaign bid and

Reconquête Reconquête (, ), stylised as Reconquête! (often shortened as R!), is a far-right political party in France founded in late 2021 by Éric Zemmour, who has since served as its leader. He was a candidate in the 2022 presidential election, in w ...

party. On October 3, 2024, the Paris prosecutor's office closed the complaint for "spreading false news" filed by the Algerian state after, Sarah Knafo claimed, Algeria received 800 million euros in development aid per year from France.

Personal life

Knafo previously had a relationship with

Louis Sarkozy Louis Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (born 28 April 1997) is a French-American writer and TV commentator and the son of the former President of France Nicolas Sarkozy and Cécilia Attias. Early life Louis Sarkozy was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine on April 2 ...

, the son of former

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa ( ; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...

and in January 2022,

informed the public that Knafo is his romantic partner. Regarding her beliefs, Knafo has described herself as

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

but influenced by

Christian culture Christian culture generally includes all the cultural practices which have developed around the religion of Christianity. There are variations in the application of Christian beliefs in different cultures and traditions. Christian culture has i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knafo, Sarah 1993 births Living people Jewish French politicians French magistrates French civil servants French women civil servants Reconquête politicians Éric Zemmour French people of Algerian-Jewish descent French people of Moroccan-Jewish descent 21st-century French Jews 21st-century French people Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University alumni Sciences Po alumni École nationale d'administration alumni Judges of the Court of Audit (France) People from Seine-Saint-Denis MEPs for France 2024–2029