Overview

• With Charles Kushner absent, the U.S. chargé d’affaires met two Quai d’Orsay directors and was told the criticisms constituted interference and misrepresented the situation, according to French diplomatic sources.
• The U.S. State Department publicly backed Kushner after the summons, with deputy spokesman Tommy Pigott saying Washington supports his remarks.
• In his letter to Emmanuel Macron, Kushner echoed Benjamin Netanyahu by arguing that moves toward recognizing a Palestinian state encourage extremists and asserting that anti‑Zionism is antisemitism.
• Official figures reported 646 antisemitic acts in France from January to June 2025, more than double the 304 recorded in the same period in 2023, though 27% fewer than in the first half of 2024.
• Macron has announced a push to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN in September, a central point in the dispute that French officials say does not undercut their total mobilization against antisemitism; summoning a U.S. envoy is rare, with precedents in 2013 and 2015.