French President Emmanuel Macron has blasted Charles Kushner, the U.S. Ambassador to France and father of Jared Kushner, over a letter accusing France of failing to tackle antisemitism.
“I think this is a mistake and an unacceptable statement for somebody who is supposed to be a diplomat,” Macron told CBS’s Face the Nation.
“Never would a French ambassador be allowed to do so. So either you are a person who wants to speak freely, fine. If you are a diplomat, you have to follow the rules of diplomacy.”
Kushner, whose son is married to President Donald Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka, wrote an open letter in The Wall Street Journal condemning the “dramatic rise” in antisemitism in France, which he claimed had “exploded” after the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.
“In France, not a day passes without Jews assaulted in the street, synagogues or schools defaced, or Jewish-owned businesses vandalized. Your own Interior Ministry has reported antisemitic incidents even at preschools,” Kushner wrote in the letter published August 24.
“Public statements haranguing Israel and gestures toward recognition of a Palestinian state embolden extremists, fuel violence, and endanger Jewish life in France. In today’s world, anti-Zionism is antisemitism—plain and simple.”
Macron rejected the criticism from Kushner, a convicted felon whom Trump pardoned in 2020 for tax crimes, and said that U.S. taxpayer money should not be used to “finance this kind of statement.”
“This is not a speech, a letter, or a word of an ambassador. This is unacceptable,” Macron said.
“The matter of antisemitism is, for me, one of my top priorities. I was the first president in France to adopt the definition of antisemitism, making it the equivalent of anti-Zionism. And I’ve always been very engaged against antisemitism. We’ve worked very hard during the past few years to re-engage, apply faster sanctions, and I have never neglected this topic.”
In August, Kushner was summoned by France’s foreign ministry to face scrutiny over the letter published in the Journal.
At the meeting, attended by the French embassy’s No. 2 on Kushner’s behalf, officials stated that the ambassador’s letter constituted “interference” in France’s internal affairs and “presented a view that did not correspond to the reality,” according to the Associated Press.
At the time, the U.S. State Department defended him in a statement: “Ambassador Kushner is our U.S. government representative in France and is doing a great job advancing our national interests in that role.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the State Department for comment.
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