France summons US envoy over antisemitism claims

Charles Kushner has accused President Emmanuel Macron of failing to protect the Jewish community

France has summoned the US ambassador over an open letter accusing French President Emmanuel Macron of failing to confront rising antisemitism.

Charles Kushner, whose son Jared is married to US President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, wrote in the Wall Street Journal on Sunday that he was “deeply concerned over the dramatic rise of antisemitism in France and the lack of sufficient action by your government to confront it.”

Antisemitism in France had “exploded” since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, Kushner argued, adding that Macron’s plan to formally recognize the State of Palestine would “embolden extremists, fuel violence, and endanger Jewish life in France.”

The French Foreign Ministry dismissed the allegations as “unacceptable,” insisting that authorities have been “fully mobilized” to counter the surge in antisemitic attacks.

Kushner’s remarks “fall short of the quality of the transatlantic partnership between France and the United States and of the trust that must prevail between allies,” the ministry said, according to AP.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also criticized France’s decision to recognize Palestine, while Macron described the criticism as “erroneous.” In July, he announced that Paris would formalize recognition at the UN General Assembly in September, calling it a “historic commitment to a just and lasting peace.”

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