Emmanuel Macron
The Israeli prime minister said his advice to French President Emmanuel Macron is “learn the facts, stick to the facts, stick to realities and don’t try to escape it.”
Intervention by French-Jewish lawmaker Meyer Habib helped resolve the issue.
The first-ever visit by the “president of Palestine” to Paris “marks a new and crucial stage in relations between France and the State of Palestine,” says the French president.
The announcement referred to the P.A. leader as “President of the State of Palestine” for the first time since Paris’s recognition two months ago.
France pushes Palestinian state initiative while Germany exercises caution, as E.U. provides hundreds of millions to the Palestinian Authority.
Israel’s foreign Minister framed the summit as another attempt by Emmanuel Macron “to divert attention from his domestic problems at Israel’s expense.”
According to a poll by the CRIF umbrella group of Jewish communities, 33% said they were opposed to any recognition “in the short time.”
While one community leader congratulated Sébastien Lecornu, others doubt there will be any shift from Paris’s anti-Israel line amid internal turmoil and rioting in the country.
The French president, who reportedly sought in vain to schedule meetings with U.S. leaders in New York, said he will name a new prime minister “in the coming days.”
“The guy has a 15% popularity rating in France,” the source, who was invited to the meeting, told JNS. “It’s not our job to help him out.”
An Israeli official said that the prime minister offered to approve the visit if Macron called off his initiative to recognize a Palestinian state.
The incident coincides with an explosion of antisemitic crimes that Jewish leaders say is fueled by hateful rhetoric against Israel.
