Meyer Habib, a 52 year-old Parisian businessman—and friend of Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu (who campaigned for him)—has become the first frum Jew in French history to be elected to France’s parliament. He was elected last month to represent the 8th district, which represents French citizens living abroad, including in Israel and a number of other Mediterranean countries. Habib was a vice president of the umbrella organization for French Jewish communities, and won by 830 votes. There were 2,176 votes cast, in a district that has almost 66,000 registered voters  in a district population of almost 112,000. According to Tablet, joined the race at the last minute, going up against a candidate supported by former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was expected to win.

Tablet also reports that Habib is married with four children, divides his time between Paris and Jerusalem, and that as a teenager he was a member of Beitar, the right-wing Zionist youth movement. He made aliyah in the 1970s, studied at the Technion and became an industrial engineer. His brother, Moshe Haviv, is a rebbe in a yeshiva in Beit El on the West Bank.