Recognition of Palestine: Netanyahu accuses Macron of "fueling the anti-Semitic fire," the Elysée Palace denounces "abject" remarks

Paris's response was swift. The French presidency denounced Benjamin Netanyahu's accusation on Tuesday evening, August 19, as "erroneous and abject." He said Emmanuel Macron's desire to recognize the Palestinian state fueled anti-Semitism. The letter from the Israeli prime minister "will not go unanswered," added the Elysée Palace, which also affirmed that "the Republic protects and will always protect its compatriots of the Jewish faith." "This period demands seriousness and responsibility, not confusion and manipulation," the presidency further emphasized.

Earlier, the French Minister for European Affairs, Benjamin Haddad, had already responded sharply to the Israeli Prime Minister's new accusations. France has "no lessons to learn in the fight against anti-Semitism," he stressed on BFMTV. "I would like to say very clearly and very firmly that this issue of anti-Semitism, which is poisoning our European societies, and we have seen an acceleration of violent anti-Semitic acts since the Hamas attacks of October 7, cannot be exploited," added the minister, according to whom the French authorities have "always been extremely mobilized against anti-Semitism."

In an official letter sent to AFP this Tuesday afternoon, the Israeli Prime Minister attacked the President of the Republic in strong terms. "I am concerned by the alarming rise of anti-Semitism in France and by the lack of decisive action by your government to address it. In recent years, anti-Semitism has ravaged French cities," Benjamin Netanyahu wrote to Emmanuel Macron.

"Since your public statements attacking Israel and signaling recognition of a Palestinian state, it has increased," he says. "Following Hamas's savage attack on the Israeli people on October 7, 2023, pro-Hamas extremists and left-wing radicals launched a campaign of intimidation, vandalism, and violence against Jews across Europe," a campaign that "has intensified in France" under Emmanuel Macron, Netanyahu believes. He lists several recent incidents, including the ransacking of the entrance to the El Al airline offices in Paris, the assault of a Jewish man in Livry-Gargan in 2017, and rabbis "attacked in the streets of Paris." "These incidents are not isolated. They constitute a plague."

"Your call for a Palestinian state fuels this anti-Semitic fire. […] It rewards Hamas's terror, reinforces Hamas's refusal to release the hostages, encourages those who threaten French Jews and fosters the hatred of Jews that now prowls your streets," the Israeli leader continued. He praised US President Donald Trump as a counter-example for his "fight" against anti-Semitic crimes and for "protecting American Jews."

"President Macron, anti-Semitism is a cancer. It spreads when leaders remain silent. It recedes when leaders act. I call on you to replace weakness with action, appeasement with will, and to do so before a clear date : the Jewish New Year, September 23, 2025," Benjamin Netanyahu concluded. This date also marks the scheduled end of the UN General Assembly in September.

The war in the Gaza Strip, triggered by the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, has rekindled international pressure to recognize the State of Palestine. France, through its President Emmanuel Macron, announced in late May that it would recognize the State of Palestine next September, at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

A decision that "rewards terror," Netanyahu had already criticized, in reference to the October 7 attack. The United States, Israel's primary supporter, for its part "firmly" rejected this "reckless" measure. A few days later, Canada also announced its intention to support a Palestinian state. The United Kingdom also announced that it would recognize it unless Israel made a series of commitments, including a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

In total, three-quarters of UN member states recognize the State of Palestine, proclaimed by the Palestinian leadership in exile in the late 1980s. This diplomatic act has been carried out by around ten countries since the start of the war in Gaza.

In late July, Australia and 14 other Western countries, including France and Canada, "invited" the international community to recognize Palestine. Australia's neighbor New Zealand also said it would consider recognizing a Palestinian state by September.

In September, France will co-chair with Saudi Arabia an international conference at the level of heads of state and government aimed at relaunching the so-called "two-state" solution, Palestinian and Israeli.

Update: 8:20 p.m., with the addition of the reaction from the Elysée.