Two gendarmes were arrested and then released by the Israeli police this Thursday, November 7. Shortly before, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, had refused to enter the French domain of Eléona because of the presence of Israeli security forces who had “entered in an armed manner” according to him .
Jean-Noël Barrot denounces an “unacceptable situation”. Visiting Jerusalem this Thursday, November 7, the Minister of Foreign Affairs refused to go to a French national property due to the presence there of armed Israeli security forces. They also briefly arrested two French gendarmes before releasing them.
· A visit to the aborted Eléona
The Minister of Foreign Affairs was supposed to visit Eléona this Thursday, a French national domain within which there is a Benedictine monastery. It is located on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, the Palestinian part of the city occupied and annexed by Israel since 1967.
Jean-Noël Barrot, however, refused to enter, the Israeli security forces having “entered in an armed manner, without first obtaining authorization from France and without agreeing to leave”, as he affirmed before the press.
Built on the cave where Christ would have taught the Pater to his disciples, it constitutes with the Tomb of the kings, the Basilica of Sainte-Anne and the former crusader commandery of Abu Gosh one of the four French national domains located in or around of Jerusalem. The Eléona, today managed and administered by the Consulate General of France in Jerusalem, was bought by the Princess de la Tour d'Auvergne at the end of the 19th century before she donated it to France.
· Two French gendarmes arrested then released
The diplomatic incident is not limited to the presence of Israeli police officers in the area of the Eléona. “After the departure of the delegation, two staff from the Consulate General of France in Jerusalem were arrested by Israeli security even though they are agents with diplomatic status,” indicates the press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
These two gendarmes are French diplomatic security guards (GSD), a position occupied by police officers and gendarmes, according to information from BFMTV. On a video shot by an RFI journalist on site, we can see one of the civil servants repeating several times “Don't touch me!” to the police officers who grabbed his arm before pinning him to the ground and then putting him in a car.
They were briefly taken to an Israeli police station then released after a few minutes after checking the images and videos in their possession, according to information from BFMTV. The Quai d'Orsay adds for its part that the two gendarmes were released “after intervention by the minister.”
· Israeli ambassador to France summoned
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Paris will summon “in the coming days” the Israeli ambassador in Paris, Joshua Zarka, to discuss this incident.
In front of journalists, Jean-Noël Barrot stressed that “this attack on the integrity of an area placed under the responsibility of France is likely to weaken the links that I had nevertheless come to cultivate with Israel.
“As the minister indicated, these actions are not acceptable,” adds the Quai d’Orsay. “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.”
· Israel denies causing diplomatic incident
In a press release, the Israeli police assured that the two gendarmes, “initially unidentified”, had “refused entry to the site to the Israeli agents responsible for security” of Jean-Noël Barrot.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry, for its part, denied being at the origin of any diplomatic incident. He said in a statement that security issues “were clarified in advance during preparatory discussions with the French Embassy in Israel.”
Pauline Revenaz with Vincent Gautier
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