{"id":370809,"date":"2025-08-24T22:32:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T22:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/370809\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T22:32:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T22:32:14","slug":"france-summons-us-ambassador-charles-kushner-over-antisemitism-allegations-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/370809\/","title":{"rendered":"France summons US ambassador Charles Kushner over antisemitism allegations | France"},"content":{"rendered":"

France summoned the American ambassador Charles Kushner after he wrote a letter to President Emmanuel Macron alleging France<\/a> had failed to do enough to stem antisemitic violence, a French foreign ministry spokesperson said on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Kushner, who is Jewish and whose son is married to U.S President Donald Trump\u2019s daughter, published the open letter in the Wall Street Journal amid deep divides between France and the US and Israel.<\/p>\n

Kushner\u2019s letter to Macron noted that Monday was \u201cthe 81st anniversary of the Allied Liberation of Paris, which ended the deportation of Jews from French soil\u201d under Nazi German occupation.<\/p>\n

He wrote: \u201cI 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…<\/p>\n

\u201cIn France, not a day passes without Jews assaulted in the street, synagogues or schools defaced, or Jewish-owned businesses vandalized,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

In the letter, he urged French president Emmanuel Macron to more urgently enforce hate-crime laws and tone down criticism of Israel, saying French government statements about recognising a Palestinian state have fuelled antisemitic incidents in France.<\/p>\n

While \u201cantisemitism has long scarred French life\u201d, the ambassador argued that hatred of Jews \u201chas exploded since Hamas\u2019s barbaric assault on October 7, 2023,\u201d which triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrance firmly refutes these latest allegations,\u201d said a foreign ministry statement in response, hours after the letter\u2019s contents were made public.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ambassador\u2019s allegations are unacceptable,\u201d the ministry said, adding Kushner would be due to appear on Monday.<\/p>\n

The ministry said the 1961 Vienna Convention meant ambassadors were not permitted to interfere in a country\u2019s internal affairs. Kushner would be summoned to the foreign ministry on Monday, it added.<\/p>\n

Kushner\u2019s letter follows another sent to Macron by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week in which Netanyahu accused Macron of contributing to antisemitism by calling for international recognition of a Palestinian state, according to the Jerusalem Post.<\/p>\n

Macron has emerged as one of the more forceful critics of Netanyahu\u2019s prosecution of the war in Gaza, particularly with regard to Palestinian civilian casualties, while Trump has steadfastly supported the Israeli leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublic statements haranguing Israel and gestures toward recognition of a Palestinian state embolden extremists, fuel violence, and endanger Jewish life in France. In today\u2019s world, anti-Zionism is antisemitism \u2013 plain and simple,\u201d Kushner wrote.<\/p>\n

Kushner\u2019s son Jared Kushner is married to Trump\u2019s daughter Ivanka Trump, who converted to Judaism before their wedding in 2009. They have three children who are being raised Jewish.<\/p>\n

Macron has publicly criticized antisemitism as antithetical to French values and increased security to protect synagogues and other Jewish centres in response to antisemitic incidents linked to the Gaza conflict.<\/p>\n

France is home to western Europe\u2019s largest Jewish population at around half a million people, as well as a significant Muslim community sensitive to the plight of the Palestinian people in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Both communities have reported a spike in hate crimes since Israel\u2019s retaliatory offensive against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the besieged coastal strip.<\/p>\n

Macron\u2019s announcement that France would formally recognise a Palestinian state during a UN meeting in September drew a swift rebuke from Israel at the time.<\/p>\n

With the move, France is set to join a list of nations that has grown since the start of the Gaza war nearly two years ago.<\/p>\n

France is among at least 147 of the 193 UN members that now recognise or plan to recognise a Palestinian state, according to a recent New York Times report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

AFP contributed reporting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"France summoned the American ambassador Charles Kushner after he wrote a letter to President Emmanuel Macron alleging France…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-370809","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115086120872946792","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}