Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the French president, Emmanuel Macron, “to feed anti -Semitic fire” in France by calling for international recognition of the State of Palestine, according to an official letter to the French head of state.
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This questioning was firmly rejected by Paris.
“I call you to replace weakness with action, appeasement by the will, and to do so before a clear date: the new Jewish year, September 23, 2025,” said this signed letter from Mr. Netanyahu, dated August 17, and transmitted to AFP on Tuesday.
“I am concerned about the alarming rise in anti -Semitism in France and by the lack of decisive actions of your government to deal with it. In recent years, anti -Semitism has ravaged French cities, ”writes Mr. Netanyahu.
“Since your public statements attacking Israel and signaling the recognition of a Palestinian state, it has increased,” he said.
“Following Hamas’ wild attack on the Israeli people on October 7, 2023, pro-Hamas extremists and left-wing radicals launched a campaign of intimidation, vandalism and violence against the Jews across Europe”, a campaign that “intensified in France” under the mandate of Mr. Macron, estimates the Israeli Prime Minister.
France has “no lessons to be received in the fight against anti -Semitism”, retorted on the BFMTV channel the Minister of European Affairs, Benjamin Haddad, who calls not to “instrumentalize” the subject of “anti -Semitism which poisons our European societies”.
According to him, French authorities were “still extremely mobilized against anti -Semitism”.
In his letter, Mr. Netanyahu lists several recent incidents, notably the ransacking of the entrance to the Israeli airline offices El Al in Paris, the assault of a Jewish man in Livry-Gargan, or rabbis “attacked in the streets of Paris”. “These incidents are not isolated. They constitute a wound, ”he underlines.
“Your call to a Palestinian state feeds this anti -Semitic fire. […]. This rewards the terror of Hamas, strengthens Hamas’ refusal to release hostages, encourages those who threaten French Jews and promotes the hatred of Jews who now prowls in your streets, “still accuses Mr. Netanyahu.
Jewish New Year and UN Assembly
He rents, in counter-examples, the American president, Donald Trump, for his “fight” against anti-Semitic crimes and to “protect American Jews”.
“President Macron, anti -Semitism is cancer. It spreads when the leaders remain silent. He retreats when the leaders act, “apostrophe the Israeli Prime Minister.
The war in the Gaza Strip, launched after the unprecedented attack on the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023, rekindled international inclinations to recognize the state of Palestine.
At the end of July, Mr. Macron announced that France was going to recognize the state of Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September. In the process, more than a dozen Western countries, including Canada, as well as Australia, have called on other countries of the world to do the same.
The UN General Assembly scheduled for September ends precisely on the 23rd, date posed by Mr. Netanyahu in his mail.
According to the Australian press, Mr. Netanyahu sent a similar letter on August 17 to the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, which he also accuses of “fueling anti -Semitic fire”, and which he too is acting before September 23.
In addition, France will co -reside in September with Saudi Arabia an international conference aimed at relaunching the so -called “Palestinian and Israeli” solution.