France summons US Ambassador Kushner over ‘unacceptable’ letter about rising antisemitism

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PARIS (AP) — France’s foreign ministry officials met Monday with a representative of U.S. ambassador Charles Kushner after the American diplomat was summoned over his letter to French President Emmanuel Macron alleging the country did not do enough to combat antisemitism.

Monday’s meeting took place after Paris rejected Kushner’s criticism as “unacceptable” and announced it had summoned him. Since the diplomat was absent, French officials met with the embassy’s No. 2 in his stead.

The summoning of the ambassador is a formal and public notice of displeasure.

During Monday’s meeting, French officials denounced the letter as “interference” in France’s internal affairs and said it “presented a view that did not correspond to the reality” of authorities’ fight against antisemitism, according to a French diplomatic official who spoke under condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott on Sunday evening said it stood by Kushner’s comments, adding: “Ambassador Kushner is our U.S. government representative in France and is doing a great job advancing our national interests in that role.”

Kushner, a real-estate developer, is the father of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

The French foreign ministry, in its statement, said “France firmly rejects these allegations” from Kushner and that French authorities have “fully mobilized” to combat a rise in antisemitic acts since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel, deeming the acts “intolerable.”

In the letter, released late on Sunday, Kushner writes that “public statements haranguing Israel and gestures toward recognition of a Palestinian state embolden extremists, fuel violence and endanger Jewish life in France.”

Kushner urges Macron “to act decisively: enforce hate-crime laws without exception, ensure the safety of Jewish schools, synagogues and businesses … and abandon steps that give legitimacy to Hamas and its allies.”

Kushner’s allegations violate international law and the obligation not to interfere with the internal affairs of another country, the French ministry said, and, “They also fall short of the quality of the transatlantic partnership between France and the United States and of the trust that must prevail between allies.”

The dustup follows Macron’s rejection this past week of accusations from Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that France’s intention to recognize a Palestinian state is fueling antisemitism.

France is home to the largest Jewish population in Europe, with an estimated 500,000 Jews, the third-largest Jewish population in the world after Israel and the United States. That’s approximately 1% of the national population.

The diplomatic discord comes as French-U.S. relations have faced tensions this year amid Trump’s trade war and a split over the future of U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon. France in particular has objected to the U.S. push to wind down the peacekeeping operation known as UNIFIL, with a vote on the issue set for the end of the month by the U.N. Security Council.

France and the U.S. have also been divided on support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, but the split has eased with Trump expressing support for security guarantees and a warm meeting with Macron and other European leaders at the White House last week.

Trump at the end of his first term as president pardoned Charles Kushner, who pleaded guilty years earlier to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations.

His son Jared is a former White House senior adviser to Trump who is married to Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka.

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Price reported from Washington, D.C.