Overview

• An official letter dated August 17 and disclosed on August 19 faults Emmanuel Macron’s plan to recognize a Palestinian state for stoking antisemitism in France.
• Benjamin Netanyahu urges Macron to take tougher action by the Jewish New Year on September 23, setting a public deadline.
• In the letter, Netanyahu says recognition would ‘reward Hamas terror,’ harden the group’s refusal to free hostages, and embolden threats against French Jews.
• He cites recent incidents in France, including damage at El Al’s Paris office entrance, an assault in Livry-Gargan, and rabbis attacked in Paris streets.
• French European Affairs Minister Benjamin Haddad rebuts the criticism on BFMTV, saying France has no lessons to receive on combating antisemitism, as France proceeds toward a UN General Assembly move in September that the United States has called imprudent.