The US has joined Israel in accusing France of stoking antisemitism, as it prepares to recognise Palestinian statehood. <\/p>\n
The US ambassador to France, Charles Kushner, let rip against French president Emmanuel Macron in a letter in the Wall Street Journal<\/a> newspaper on Sunday (24 August). <\/p>\n “Public statements haranguing Israel and gestures toward recognition of a Palestinian state embolden extremists, fuel violence, and endanger Jewish life in France,” he said.<\/p>\n Kushner urged Macron to “abandon steps that give legitimacy to Hamas,” the militant group that rules Gaza. <\/p>\n And he painted a frightening picture of life for Jews in France and the wider EU. <\/p>\n “Pro-Hamas extremists and radical activists have waged a campaign of intimidation and violence across Europe. In France, not a day passes without Jews assaulted in the street, synagogues or schools defaced, or Jewish-owned businesses vandalised,” Kushner wrote. <\/p>\n “Most French citizens believe another Holocaust could happen in Europe,” he said. <\/p>\n “In today’s world, anti-Zionism is antisemitism \u2013 plain and simple,” he added, equating protests against the Israeli state and Jew hatred<\/a>. <\/p>\n Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote the same in a letter to Macron on 19 August, saying: “Your call for a Palestinian state pour fuels on this antisemitism fire”. <\/p>\n Antisemitic incidents tripled in France since the Gaza war began in 2023 to reach 1,570 in 2024, according to the Conseil Repr\u00e9sentatif des Institutions Juives de France, a Jewish NGO. <\/p>\n Incidents more than doubled in France and Germany, the Anti Defamation League, a US-based Jewish group, has also reported.<\/p>\n But the French foreign ministry said Kushner’s remarks were “unacceptable” and summoned him to hear a formal complaint at its HQ, the Quai d’Orsay, in Paris on Monday. <\/p>\n It acknowledged the “reality” of the rise in antisemitism, but said: “French authorities [were] totally mobilised [against it], because these actions are intolerable”. <\/p>\n Macron’s office also told Netanyahu last week: “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”. <\/p>\n France is planning to recognise Palestine at the UN general assembly in New York on 9 September, along with Australia, Canada, and the UK, in reaction to Israel’s killing of over 63,000 people in Gaza and its West Bank annexation threats. <\/p>\n Palestine currently has “Permanent Observer State” status at the UN, so it can take part in meetings, and has been recognised by 147 out of 193 UN countries. <\/p>\n It can’t become a full member due to a US veto, but French and UK recognition would still be a landmark in the history of Palestine’s struggle for independence. <\/p>\n Famine ‘blood libel’<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IFSPC) confirmed in an authoritative report last Friday that there was now “famine” in Gaza City, despite an EU-Israel deal in August<\/a> to let in food.<\/p>\n “Starvation is present and is rapidly spreading”, it warned.<\/p>\n But Netanyahu dismissed the IFSPC findings as a “modern-day blood libel”, while his forces pressed ahead with conquering Gaza City in the teeth of EU appeals. <\/p>\n The Israeli leader is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has said there were “plausible” grounds to call his Gaza actions “genocide”.<\/p>\n But the US and Israel have likewise denigrated the ICC and ICJ on antisemitism grounds. <\/p>\n EU foreign ministers will meet informally in Copenhagen on Friday to discuss potential Israel sanctions, such as exclusion from EU science grants or free-trade perks.<\/p>\n In a sign of high tension in Europe, Dutch foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp resigned on Saturday in protest at government inaction on Gaza. <\/p>\n But unless Germany or Italy split from their old Israeli ally, there will be no majority in the EU Council for business as usual to pause. <\/p>\n