The American ambassador to France Charles Kushner was summoned on Monday, August 25 to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday, August 25, after the criticisms considered unacceptable by Paris about “the lack of sufficient action” against the antemitism of President Emmanuel Macron, whose intention to recognize a Palestinian state tool is Rrael and the United States.
“In the absence of the ambassador, the manager was summoned to the quai d’Orsay that day at 5.30 pm,” according to a French diplomatic source in BFMTV.
The latter explains “that the manager of the American embassy was told that the Ambassador’s letter was not acceptable in the form, or in the merits”, believing that it is “criticism that constitutes interference in internal affairs and elaborating an observation that did not correspond to reality.”
For his part, the project manager emphasized that “Ambassador Charles Kushner is willing to work with France in the fight against anti -Semitism,” according to the same source in BFMTV.
The call of an American ambassador is rare
In a letter addressed to the Head of State, Charles Kushner, father of the son of Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, in office for a few weeks in France, had expressed “his deep concern about the outbreak of the outbreak of anti -semitism in France and the lack of sufficient action of (his) government to fight against the fight”, joined the recent criticisms of the recent criticisms of the recent criticism of the Redamin Benyamin Benyamin The United States Department of State said “supporting the comments” of its ambassador.
“Ambassador Kushner is the representative of the United States government in France and is doing a remarkable job by advancing our national interests in this role,” said his deputy spokesman Tommy Pigott in a statement.
The call to the quai d’Orsay of an American ambassador is a rare but not without precedents. In October 2013, the Washington representative was summoned after the revelations of Edward Snowden according to which the NSA would have greatly intercepted communications in France. In June 2015, his successor Jane Hartley also had to explain the Wikileaks documents that attest to the listening of the NSA called for three French presidents (Chirac, Sarkozy, Hollande).
Criticism of the American diplomat intervenes a few days after a violent position of Benyamin Netanyahu against the French president who accuses of “feeding the anti -Semitic fire” by requesting international recognition of the state of Palestine.
An “erroneous, abject and (that) will not remain unanswered” analysis, the French presidency had already responded. In his letter, the American ambassador takes the argument of Benjamin Netanyahu.
Double anti -Semitic acts that in 2023
“The statements that vilify Israel and gestures in recognition of a Palestinian state encourage extremists, encourage violence and endanger Judeity in France,” said Charles Kushner.
According to the ambassador, “there is no day in France without the Jews being attacked in the streets, synagogues and degraded schools, and companies that belong to destroyed Jews.”
Anti -Semitic acts have clearly increased in France since October 7, 2023, the date of Hamas unprecedented attacks against Israel and the beginning of the war in Gaza.
Between January and June 2025, 646 anti -Semitic acts in France were identified, 27% less than the first semester of 2024, according to the figures distributed on Monday by the Interior Ministry. But they represent more than double than the 304 acts identified between January and June 2023.
Anti -Semitism has reached “intolerable” thresholds, the French minister responsible for the fight against discrimination, Aurore Bergé on Monday.
But, “the French government’s struggle is unequivocally against anti -Semitism,” he said. “The issue is too serious (…) to be taken to the task on diplomatic issues,” he said.
An opinion shared by Patrick Klugman, lawyer of several French victims of October 7 and representative of the Yad Vashem Memorial in France.
“Whatever the positions, sometimes questionable, of France with respect to Israel, public authorities carry out a constant, undeniable and resolved action against anti -Semitism,” he attests to Charles Kushner published in X.
“During the last six years, an anti -Semitic murder in France has not been committed, while the United States has experienced several,” he observes, asking the ambassador to be a “useful relief” to “fight against hate online.”
“Help us to convince the big platforms, all Americans, so that they no longer offer a space to anti -Semitic hatred and no longer allow their export beyond your borders,” he orders.
At the end of July, Emmanuel Macron announced that France would recognize the State of Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September. In the process, more than a dozen Western countries, including Canada, as well as Australia, have asked other countries in the world to do the same.
Source: BFM TV
