Emmanuel Macron has hit out at Benjamin Netanyahu for his “abject” and “erroneous” remarks after Israel’s prime minister claimed that antisemitism had “surged” in France after the country’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state in September, reports The Guardian.
In a statement released late on Tuesday, the office of the French president pushed back against Netanyahu’s claim. “The analysis suggesting that France’s decision to recognise the state of Palestine in September is behind the rise in antisemitic violence in France is erroneous, abject, and will not go unanswered,” it said. “The current period calls for seriousness and responsibility, not generalisation and manipulation.”
Relations between the two leaders have been strained since July, when Macron announced that France would become the first major western power to recognise a Palestinian state at next month’s UN general assembly, in the hope of bringing peace to the region.
At the time, Netanyahu, who is wanted by the international criminal court over allegations of war crimes in Gaza, criticised the decision, saying that France “rewards terror”. He added: “A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel – not to live in peace beside it.”
The move means France will join the group of UN members – at least 145 out of 193 – that now recognise or plan to recognise a Palestinian state, according to a tally by the news agency Agence France-Presse.
In a letter sent to Macron earlier this week, Netanyahu accused the French president of not doing enough to confront the alarming rise of antisemitism in France. “Your call for a Palestinian state pour fuels on this antisemitism fire,” Netanyahu wrote.
A similar letter, with almost identical wording, was reportedly also sent to Australia’s prime minister earlier this week.
Responding to the allegations, Macron’s office said that France “protects and will always protect its Jewish citizens” and that, since 2017, the president had systematically required the government to “take the strongest possible action against the perpetrators of antisemitic acts”.
According to the latest figures from France’s interior ministry, 504 antisemitic acts were reported across the country between January and May this year, suggesting a 24% decrease from the previous year.
The numbers, however, remain high, double the number of reported incidents from the same time period in 2013. Members of France’s Jewish community, one of the largest in the world, have repeatedly warned that antisemitic acts have increased since Israel launched its war in Gaza in response to the attack by Hamas on 7 October 2023.
Most recently, the felling of an olive tree planted in memory of a young French Jewish man tortured to death in 2006 prompted outrage, with Macron vowing to punish an act of “antisemitic hatred”.
Read more of this report from The Guardian.