France summoned US Ambassador Charles Kushner after he wrote a letter to President Emmanuel Macron accusing France of not making a big enough effort to stop antisemitic violence, a French foreign ministry spokesperson said Sunday.
Kushner published the letter in the Wall Street Journal amid tension and rifts between France and the US and Israel. The US ambassador is Jewish himself, and his son is married to US President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka.
In the letter, he urged French President Emmanuel Macron to more strictly enforce hate-crime laws and tone down criticism of Israel, claiming that the French government’s recent statements about recognizing a Palestinian state are fueling the rise in antisemitic incidents in France.
“France has learned of the allegations made by the United States Ambassador, Mr. Charles Kushner, who, in a letter to the President of the Republic, expressed his concern about the rise in antisemitic acts in France and noted the alleged lack of sufficient action by the French authorities to combat them,” the ministry said.
“The Ambassador’s allegations are unacceptable,” the ministry added, mentioning that Kushner was summoned to arrive on Monday.
Kushner’s appeal follows a different letter sent to Macron by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week, in which Netanyahu had also accused Macron of contributing to antisemitism by calling for international recognition of a Palestinian state.
“Public statements haranguing Israel and gestures toward recognition of a Palestinian state embolden extremists, fuel violence, and endanger Jewish life in France. In today’s world, anti-Zionism is antisemitism — plain and simple,” Kushner wrote in the letter.
While the French president has called on other countries to recognize a Palestinian state and criticized Israel harshly throughout the war against Hamas in Gaza, he has publicly condemned antisemitism and increased security to protect synagogues and other Jewish centers in response to antisemitic incidents.