{"id":358346,"date":"2025-08-20T02:47:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T02:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/358346\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T02:47:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T02:47:10","slug":"israels-netanyahu-lashes-out-at-frances-macron-australian-pm-albanese-israel-palestine-conflict-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/358346\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s Netanyahu lashes out at France\u2019s Macron, Australian PM Albanese | Israel-Palestine conflict News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A diplomatic row between Israel and Paris has broken out after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused French President Emmanuel Macron of fuelling \u201cthe anti-Semitic fire\u201d in France by planning to recognise Palestinian statehood<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu\u2019s accusation against the French leader was contained in a letter, seen by the AFP news agency on Tuesday, which claimed that anti-Semitism had \u201csurged\u201d in France since President Macron\u2019s recent announcement that he will recognise Palestine as a state at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly next month.<\/p>\n

The French president\u2019s office hit back swiftly at Netanyahu on Tuesday, calling his allegations \u201cabject\u201d and \u201cerroneous\u201d, and promising that they \u201cwill not go unanswered\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a time for seriousness and responsibility, not for conflation and manipulation,\u201d the French presidency said, adding that France \u201cprotects and will always protect its Jewish citizens\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cViolence against the [French] Jewish community is intolerable,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

Reacting to Netanyahu\u2019s letter, Benjamin Haddad, the French deputy minister for European affairs, said that France had \u201cno lessons to learn in the fight against anti-Semitism\u201d.<\/p>\n

The issue, \u201cwhich is poisoning our European societies\u201d, must not be \u201cexploited\u201d, Haddad said.<\/p>\n

France, which is home to Europe\u2019s biggest Jewish community, has joined an estimated 145 of the 193 UN members<\/a> that now recognise or plan to recognise a Palestinian state, according to reports.<\/p>\n

\u2018Encourages the Jew-hatred now stalking your streets\u2019<\/p>\n

In his letter, Netanyahu said to Macron: \u201cYour call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on this antisemitic fire. It is not diplomacy, it is appeasement. It rewards Hamas terror, hardens Hamas\u2019s refusal to free the hostages, emboldens those who menace French Jews and encourages the Jew-hatred now stalking your streets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Netanyahu\u2019s diplomatic dust-up with Macron comes as Israel revoked the visas of Australian diplomats to the Palestinian Authority.<\/p>\n

The Israeli leader also accused Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday of being \u201ca weak politician who had betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia\u2019s Jews\u201d, over his plans to recognise Palestine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:<\/p>\n

History will remember Albanese for what he is: A weak politician
who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) August 19, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Australian government also on Monday cancelled the visa of Israeli politician Simcha Rothman, whose ultranationalist party is in Netanyahu\u2019s governing coalition.<\/p>\n

Rothman had been scheduled to speak at events organised by the Australian Jewish Association.<\/p>\n

Hours later, Israel\u2019s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said he had revoked the visas of Australia\u2019s representatives to the Palestinian Authority.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also instructed the Israeli Embassy in Canberra to carefully examine any official Australian visa application for entry to Israel,\u201d Saar said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis follows Australia\u2019s decisions to recognise a \u2018Palestinian state\u2019 and against the backdrop of Australia\u2019s unjustified refusal to grant visas to a number of Israeli figures,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong called Israel\u2019s revocation of visas for its diplomats an \u201cunjustified reaction\u201d, and said that Netanyahu\u2019s government was increasing Israel\u2019s diplomatic isolation on the world stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when dialogue and diplomacy are needed more than ever, the Netanyahu government is isolating Israel and undermining international efforts towards peace and a two-state solution,\u201d Wong said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Last week, Albanese said that Netanyahu was \u201cin denial\u201d about the humanitarian crisis being caused by Israel\u2019s punishing war on Gaza.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Laerke said Israel has classified tents as \u201cdual use\u201d because it considers that tent poles could be used for a military purpose.<\/p>\n

UN Human Rights Office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan warned that Israel\u2019s military takeover of Gaza City threatened a further humanitarian catastrophe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are risks of mass displacement and more and more killings and more misery,\u201d he said, adding that \u201chundreds of thousands\u201d of Palestinians in Gaza City were being ordered to move south to the al-Mawasi area, which Israel previously designated a \u201csafe zone\u201d but continues to bomb.<\/p>\n