French gendarmes arrested then released in Jerusalem, ambassador summoned: what can we learn from the diplomatic incident between France and Israel?

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot was due to visit Eleona, a French national domain, during his trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

“Without having been authorized, Israeli security entered armed. The Minister did not wish to go to the area under these conditions”underlines a press release from France Diplomatie on X.

“I strongly condemn these acts”

“Israeli security entered the French domain of the Eleona armed. I therefore refused to enter. Two agents from our consulate were then arrested, then released. I strongly condemn these acts, while France works to appeasement in the region”expressed Jean-Noël Barrot on this same social network.

“Don’t touch!”

During virulent exchanges, the Israeli police surrounded the two French officers. They grab one of them and put him on the ground before putting him in a police car as can be seen on the video. The official allegedly screamed several times “Don’t touch me!”reports in particular The Parisian.

The two men were then released, thanks to the intervention of the minister. An Israeli police official explained that they were not in uniform and had not shown their diplomatic cards.

“France cannot be humiliated like this”

“In Jerusalem, Netanyahu has nothing to do in the territory under French responsibility”wrote the leader of La France insoumise on X.

His troops in the Assembly had reacted a little earlier by denouncing a “violation of French sovereignty”calling not to “accept the government’s repeated acts of arrogance” Israeli “with regard to France”.

Israeli diplomacy, for its part, assured that security issues had been “clarified” in advance with the French Embassy in Tel Aviv.

The head of the French Communist Party Fabien Roussel insisted that “France cannot be humiliated like this”. “When we see how the Israeli police treat French gendarmes, we understand better how they treat the Palestinians!” he said to X.

“Inconceivable”

Political reactions mainly came from the left, although a few other voices came forward.

Renaissance MP Brigitte Klinkert notably estimated on X that the minister had “was right” not to go to Eléona. “It is inconceivable that our diplomatic personnel would be arrested in this way”she wrote.

“Unacceptable actions”

The Senate Foreign Affairs Committee and its president LR Cédric Perrin, for their part, denounced in a press release a “unacceptable arrest”Who “fuels tensions in a context which nevertheless calls for appeasement and dialogue.”

“The Israeli ambassador to France will be summoned to the ministry in the coming days, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs later indicated in a press release relayed on X. As the Minister has indicated, these actions are not acceptable. France condemns them with all the more vigor as they intervene in a context where it is doing everything possible to work to de-escalate violence in the region.”