France invites the American ambassador Charles Kushner for anti -Semitic allegations | France
France summoned the American ambassador Charles Kushner after having written a letter to President Emmanuel Macron alleging that France had not done enough to stem anti-Semitic violence, a spokesman for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday.
Kushner, who is Jewish and whose son is married to the daughter of American president Donald Trump, published the open letter in the Wall Street Journal in the midst of the deep divisions between France and the United States and Israel.
Kushner’s letter to Macron noted that Monday was “the 81st anniversary of the Allied Liberation of Paris, which ended the expulsion of the Jews of the French soil” under the German Nazi occupation.
He wrote: “I write a deep concern concerning the dramatic rise of anti -Semitism in France and the sufficient lack of action of your government to face it …
“In France, not a day passes without the Jews being attacked in the street, synagogues or degraded schools, or companies belonging to vandalized Jews,” he added.
In the letter, he urged French President Emmanuel Macron to apply more urgently the laws on hatred crime and to alleviate criticism from Israel, saying that French government’s statements on the recognition of a Palestinian state fueled anti -Semitic incidents in France.
While “anti -Semitism has long marked French life”, the ambassador argued that the hatred of the Jews “has exploded since the barbaric assault of Hamas on October 7, 2023”, which sparked the war in progress in Gaza.
“France firmly refutes the latter allegations,” said a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a few hours after the content of the letter.
“The allegations of the ambassador are unacceptable,” said the ministry, adding that Kushner is expected to appear on Monday.
The Ministry said that the 1961 Vienna Convention noted that ambassadors were not authorized to interfere in the internal affairs of a country. Kushner would be summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday, he added.
Kushner’s letter follows another sent to Macron by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week in which Netanyahu accused Macron of having contributed to anti -Semitism by calling for international recognition of a Palestinian state, according to Jerusalem Post.
Macron has become one of the most energetic criticisms of the Netanyahu war in Gaza, in particular with regard to the Palestinian civilian victims, while Trump firmly supported the Israeli chief.
“Public declarations haranguize Israel and make gestures to the recognition of a Palestinian state enhancement, extremists, fuel violence and endanger Jewish life in France. In today’s world, anti -Zionism is anti -Semitism – simple and simple,” Kushner wrote.
Kushner’s son Jared Kushner is married to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, who converted to Judaism before their marriage in 2009. They have three children who are raised Jewish.
Macron has publicly criticized anti -Semitism as antithetics with French values and increased security to protect synagogues and other Jewish centers in response to anti -Semitic incidents linked to the Gaza conflict.
France is home to the largest Jewish population in Western Europe with around half a million people, as well as an important Muslim community sensitive to the fate of the Palestinian people in Gaza.
The two communities have reported an increase in hate crimes since the Israel reprisal offensive against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the besieged coastal strip.
Macron’s announcement that France would officially recognize a Palestinian state at a United Nations meeting in September attracted a rapid reprimand of Israel at the time.
With this decision, France is expected to join a list of nations that has increased since the start of the Gaza war almost two years ago.
France is among at least 147 of the 193 members of the UN who recognize or now plan to recognize a Palestinian state, according to a recent New York Times report.
AFP contributed the reports
