PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron vehemently rejected Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent criticism that France wasn’t doing enough to tackle antisemitism, in a letter to the Israeli prime minister.
The fight against antisemitism should not “weaponised”, wrote Macron in a six-page letter that detailed the French government’s efforts to fight antisemitism, made public on Tuesday.
“Protecting France’s Jewish citizens from the rise in antisemitism has been an absolute priority of mine from day one,” wrote Macron. The fight “must not be the subject of manipulation” amid a conflict in the Middle East that affects France’s “national cohesion and the security of its citizens.”
In a letter made public earlier this month, Netanyahu said antisemitism had “surged” in France and accused the French president of fueling hatred with his campaign to get nations to recognize Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly next month.
“Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on this antisemitic fire,” Netanyahu wrote in his letter.
“It is not diplomacy, it is appeasement. It rewards Hamas terror, hardens Hamas’s refusal to free the hostages, emboldens those who menace French Jews,” he wrote.
Macron and Netanyahu have long had a turbulent relationship that has become more tense with Macron’s decision to recognize Palestinian statehood, and amid a rise in antisemitic offenses in France since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
In his letter, Macron rebuffed Netanyahu’s claims that recognizing Palestinian statehood would undermine Israel.
“Our determination to ensure that the Palestinian people have a State is rooted in our belief that a lasting peace is essential to the State of Israel’s security,” he wrote.
A diplomatic row also erupted this week between France and the United States when the U.S. ambassador to France, Charles Kushner, the father of U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, also accused Macron of insufficient action against antisemitism. France described these allegations as “unacceptable.”
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