“Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on this antisemitic fire. It is not diplomacy; it is appeasement,” Netanyahu claimed in a letter to Macron seen by US media.
The Israeli PM claimed that Macron’s move “rewards Hamas terror” and “emboldens those who menace French Jews and encourages the Jew-hatred now stalking” French streets.
Macron’s office responded by warning in a statement that Netanyahu’s claims were “erroneous, despicable, and will not go unanswered.”
Israel–France relations have sharply deteriorated following the latter’s announcement that it plans to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN in September.
The French foreign ministry also condemned Netanyahu’s plan to occupy Gaza, while Macron called it “a declared catastrophe” and a push for a “permanent war.”