Macron and Netanyahu Spar Over France’s Push for Palestinian Statehood

Emmanuel Macron pushed back on Tuesday against claims by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the French president was abetting antisemitism by planning to recognize a Palestinian state.

“Protecting France’s Jewish citizens from the rise in anti-Semitism has been an absolute priority of mine from day one,” Macron wrote in a letter to Netanyahu published in the French daily Le Monde. “It must not be the subject of manipulation amid the politicization of a conflict that is not France’s but that is affecting its national cohesion and the security of its citizens.”