France has summoned the United States Ambassador Charles Kushner after he wrote to French President Emmanuel Macron criticising the government for its alleged insufficient action against antisemitism.
“The allegations from the ambassador are unacceptable,” said the French Foreign Ministry in a statement released Sunday in which it summoned the ambassador as a formal and public notice of displeasure.
In his letter dated August 25, but published in the Wall Street Journal Sunday, Kushner said Macron must enforce hate crime laws and tone down criticism of Israel, saying that a decision to recognise a Palestinian state has fuelled antisemitic incidents in France.
“I write out of deep concern over the dramatic rise of antisemitism in France and the lack of sufficient action by your government to confront it,” he said.
Kushner, who is Jewish, and whose son Jared is a former senior adviser to Trump and married to Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka, said that antisemtiism “has exploded" since Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which prompted Israel’s bombing response on Gaza and the ongoing war.
Kushner said Macron’s critiques of Israel over the Gaza war and his plan to recognise the state of Palestine at the UN in September “embolden extremists, fuel violence, and endanger Jewish life in France”.
“France firmly refutes these latest allegations,” the Foreign Ministry said, hours after the letter’s contents were made public, adding that the comments "do not live up to the quality of the transatlantic relationship between France and the United States and the trust that should result between allies”.
Kusnher’s letter comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent similar critiques on Tuesday, saying antisemitism had “surged” in France following Macron’s announcement last month that he would recognize Palestinian statehood.
The presidency responded, calling the allegation “abject” and “erroneous”.
The incident adds to diplomatic tension between France and the US amid Trump's trade war and disagreements on support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.
France also has objected to the US push to wind down the United Nations peacekeeping operation in Lebanon, which is due for a Security Council vote on Monday.
(with newswires)
