A row between Israel and France over Paris’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state next month has escalated after Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu accused French President, Emmanuel Macron of fuelling “the anti-Semitic fire” in France by planning to recognise Palestinian statehood.
Netanyahu’s accusation against the French leader was contained in a letter, which claimed that anti-Semitism had “surged” in France since Macron’s recent announcement that he will recognise Palestine as a state at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly next month.
In his letter, Netanyahu said to Macron, “Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on this antisemitic fire,” adding, “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 and encourages the Jew-hatred now stalking your streets.”
Benjamin Netanyahu
Macron said that France would formally recognise a Palestinian state during a UN meeting in September, a move that at the time drew a swift rebuke from Israel.
By announcing the move to recognise statehood for Palestinians, France is set to join a list of nations that has grown since the start of the Gaza war nearly two years ago.
France, which is home to Europe’s biggest Jewish community, has joined an estimated 145 of the 193 UN members that now recognise or plan to recognise a Palestinian state, according to reports.
France has long advocated for a two-state solution that would see a Palestinian state established.
It has said its move to recognise a Palestinian state goes against Hamas, which rules Gaza and has excluded a two-state solution.
France Hits Back At Israeli Leader’s Remarks
The French president’s office hit back swiftly at Netanyahu, calling his allegations “abject” and “erroneous”, and promising that they “will not go unanswered.”
The French presidency said that this is a time for “seriousness and responsibility, not for conflation and manipulation,” adding that France “protects and will always protect its Jewish citizens.”
“Violence against the [French] Jewish community is intolerable.
“That is why, beyond criminal convictions, the president has systematically required all his governments since 2017 — and even more so since the terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023 — to show the strongest action against perpetrators of antisemitic acts.”
French presidency
Reacting to Netanyahu’s letter, Benjamin Haddad, the French Deputy Minister for European affairs, said that France had “no lessons to learn in the fight against anti-Semitism.”
Haddad stated that the issue, “which is poisoning our European societies,” must not be “exploited.”
In the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry condemned Netanyahu’s remarks, calling them “unjustified and hostile to peace.”
“The old record of confusing criticism of the Israeli occupation and its crimes or support for the Palestinian people’s rights to freedom and independence with antisemitism… has become cracked and exposed, and no one is fooled.”
Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry
Meanwhile, humanitarian crisis being caused by Israel’s punishing war on Gaza has worsened.
On Tuesday, Jens Laerke, the Spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said that Israeli authorities had banned shelter items, such as tents, from entering Gaza for about five months, a period in which more than 700,000 people in the war-ravaged territory have been forcibly displaced and re-displaced by Israeli forces.
Laerke added that Israel has classified tents as “dual use” because it considers that tent poles could be used for a military purpose.
Also, UN Human Rights Office Spokesman, Thameen Al-Kheetan warned that Israel’s military takeover of Gaza City threatened a further humanitarian catastrophe.
He noted that there are risks of “mass displacement and more and more killings and more misery,” adding that “hundreds of thousands” of Palestinians in Gaza City were being ordered to move south to the al-Mawasi area, which Israel previously designated a “safe zone” but continues to bomb.
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