Traveling to Jerusalem on Thursday, November 7, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, was confronted with an incident characteristic of the complexities of the Franco-Israeli relationship. After talks with the new Minister of Defense, Israel Katz, who until Tuesday was Minister of Foreign Affairs, and with Ron Dermer, advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr. Barrot was to go to the Mount of Olives to visit one of the four areas that France has custody of in Jerusalem: the Eleona sanctuary, which houses the Pater Noster church. There are Carmelites there and you can enjoy a magnificent view of the old town.
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But even before Mr. Barrot’s arrival in the Eleona domain, the situation began to become tense. Israeli police officers burst into the sanctuary in large numbers, where they took on two French gendarmes, usually based at the French consulate in Jerusalem and who had come to secure the premises for the occasion. Once arrived on site and after noting the intrusion of the Israeli police, the head of French diplomacy refused to enter the Eleona, recalling that it is a “domain which has belonged to France for more than one hundred and fifty years, and of which France ensures the security and maintenance, with enormous care”.
Ulcerated, the minister declared: “I am not going to enter the area, because Israeli security forces entered it, armed, without first obtaining authorization from France. (…) I will say it very firmly: this situation is unacceptable. This attack on the integrity of an area placed under the responsibility of France is likely to weaken the links that I had come to cultivate with Israel. »
The situation then degenerated between excess Israeli police officers and the two French gendarmes, who have diplomatic status. After rough verbal exchanges, the latter were taken by force to a police station, from where they were only released in the early evening, after intervention by the minister, specifies a press release from the Quai d’Orsay.
Unfavorable climate
It is difficult to understand this diplomatic incident as the product of a simple misunderstanding. In a video filmed by a Radio France journalist, the head of the police, speaking French, explains to the gendarmes the reasons for their arrest: “Because you prevented police officers from doing their job. » He even threatens to resort “to strength” if they object to their arrest. The tone rises. “Don’t touch me!” »shouts one of the gendarmes at one of the police officers who grabbed his arm and pushed him outside the sanctuary. After being put on the ground, the gendarme and one of his colleagues were loaded into police vehicles.
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