Just weeks after arriving in France as the new American ambassador, Charles Kushner was summoned to the country’s Foreign Ministry after publishing a letter accusing the French government of not doing enough to protect its Jewish citizens and of fueling antisemitism.
In the letter, addressed to President Emmanuel Macron of France and published in The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Kushner said, “I write out of deep concern over the dramatic rise of antisemitism in France and the lack of sufficient action by your government to confront it.”
He continued: “In France, not a day passes without Jews assaulted in the street, synagogues or schools defaced, or Jewish-owned businesses vandalized.”
“Today, many French Jews fear that history will repeat itself in Europe,” he added.
Mr. Kushner also said that Mr. Macron’s declaration to recognize a Palestinian state would “embolden extremists, fuel violence, and endanger Jewish life in France.”
In response, the French Foreign Ministry said it “firmly refutes” Mr. Kushner’s allegations, which it said “violate international law, particularly the duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of states, as set out in the 1961 Vienna Convention governing diplomatic relations.” It summoned the ambassador to the ministry on Monday.
Mr. Kushner is not just President Trump’s appointee but also a member of his family. His son Jared Kushner is married to Mr. Trump’s daughter Ivanka and was a major adviser in the president’s first term. Since taking up his post as ambassador on July 11, Charles Kushner, the son of Holocaust survivors, has made denouncing antisemitism and supporting Israel the centerpiece of his mandate.
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