new Franco-Israeli diplomatic incident on a web site belonging to France | EUROtoday

uA brand new diplomatic incident between France and Israel marred, on Thursday, the go to to Jerusalem of the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, when Israeli police entered “armed” and “without authorization”, based on him, on a non secular web site belonging to France.

“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, at a time when we all need to advance the region on the path to peace,” he harassed to the press.

He didn’t specify why the Israeli police had entered the grounds of the Eléona nationwide area, subsequent to which is a Carmelite convent (additionally beneath French diplomatic safety), situated on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem. , Palestinian a part of the town occupied and annexed by Israel since 1967. Denouncing an “unacceptable situation”, the minister lastly determined to not enter this pilgrimage web site.

The Israeli ambassador shall be summoned

Built on the grotto generally known as “du Pater”, the place Christ, based on custom, taught the Our Father (Pater noster, in Latin) to his disciples, it is without doubt one of the 4 French nationwide domains in and close to Jerusalem, with the Tomb of the kings, the basilica of Sainte-Anne and the outdated crusader commandery of Abu Gosh with their Romanesque church buildings. “The Eléona area (…) is an area which has not only belonged to France for more than 150 years, but whose security France ensures,” mentioned the minister.

The Eleona “is a holy place,” Father Laurent, rector of the Sainte-Anne basilica, defined to AFP. “Here in Israel, the holy places are particularly protected places. We don’t enter with weapons. Furthermore, it is a French domain,” he added. The Israeli ambassador in Paris shall be summoned “in the coming days” to debate this incident, introduced the Quai d’Orsay.

“Don’t touch me”

Just after the minister’s departure, a brand new incident concerned Israeli cops in uniform and two French gendarmes in civilian garments, famous an AFP journalist. During a really tense change, Israeli cops grabbed one among them, throwing him to the bottom earlier than taking him right into a police automobile. The gendarme, who had recognized himself, shouted a number of occasions, “Don’t touch me!” », According to the AFP journalist. The two gendarmes had been then launched and a police official defined to them that they weren’t in uniform and that they’d not proven their skilled card. “They know that we work at the French consulate general,” replied one of many two consulate brokers, pointing to the cops who had arrested him.

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Answer

The Israeli police mentioned in a press release that “two initially unidentified individuals” had “refused entry to the site to Israeli agents responsible for the minister’s security.”

On January 22, 2022, the go to of French President Emmanuel Macron was additionally marked by a stampede in entrance of the Sainte-Anne basilica. The president mentioned in English to an Israeli police officer, “I don’t like what you did in front of me.” The most well-known incident stays that of 1996, when President Jacques Chirac additionally misplaced his mood towards Israeli troopers who had been surrounding him too carefully, saying “Do you need me to return to my aircraft? » (Do you need me to get again on board my aircraft?), earlier than demanding that the troopers depart the Sainte-Anne space.