Macron hits
out at ‘abject’ Netanyahu claim of rise in antisemitism in France
French
president responds to Israeli PM’s ‘erroneous’ allegations in relation to
decision to recognise state of Palestine
Ashifa
Kassam European community affairs correspondent
Wed 20 Aug
2025 17.55 BST
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.
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”.
Tensions
between Israel and its traditional allies have been mounting in recent weeks
after Macron’s promise to recognise a Palestinian state – a move that elicited
similar signals from Britain, Canada and Australia.
This week,
after sending Australia’s prime minister a letter accusing him of fuelling
antisemitism with his decision to recognise a Palestinian state, Netanyahu
doubled down on his criticism of Anthony Albanese on Tuesday, saying he was a
“weak politician who had betrayed Israel”.
Albanese
brushed off the claims. “I don’t take these things personally,” he told
reporters on Wednesday. “I treat leaders of other countries with respect. I
engage with them in a diplomatic way.”
Hours after
his office had sparred with Netanyahu, Macron highlighted plans to co-chair a
conference on a two-state solution with Saudi Arabia in New York in September.
Macron made
the announcement as he criticised Israel’s plans for a “military offensive in
Gaza”, writing on social media that it “can only lead to disaster for both
peoples and risks plunging the entire region into a cycle of permanent war”.
Global
pressure has been mounting on Israel to address the situation in Gaza, where at
least 62,000 people have been killed and a complete blockade on aid entering
the Palestinian territory has led to widespread conditions of starvation.
In July, two
of Israel’s most respected human rights organisations, B’Tselem and Physicians
for Human Rights, said Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in
Gaza, and said the country’s western allies had a legal and moral duty to stop
it. The accusation echoes earlier positions taken by global human rights
organisations such as Médecins Sans Frontières and Amnesty International.
Israel
denies is it carrying out a genocide, and says the war in Gaza is one of
self-defence in response to the cross-border attacks by Hamas on 7 October
2023, in which about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed.
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