French-Israeli settlers receive election notices addressed to ‘Palestinian territories’

Jewish MP blasts ‘demeaning provocation’ by Paris; some said to have boycotted presidential vote in protest

By ToI Staff 4 May 2017, 3:05 am

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MP Meyer Habib speaks at the National Assembly in Paris, November 28, 2014. (screen capture)

French Israelis living beyond the Green Line in the West Bank received letters from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs which described them as living in “the Palestinian territories.”

Hundreds of settlers with French citizenship received official notices ahead of the French presidential elections, which called on them to exercise their right to vote. The settlers’ location was marked in the address as “Palestinian territories,” Channel 2 news reported.

The TV station said some French settlers decided not to vote due to their anger over the letters’ address line.

French Jewish MP Meyer Habib wrote a letter of complaint to French President Francois Hollande over the matter, calling the letters’ wording “a demeaning provocation.”

https://twitter.com/Nathandco/status/857206244431601665

“Beyond the political and legal debate, the French Foreign Ministry’s deliberate choice to present Israeli communities under the moniker ‘Palestinian territories’ is a demeaning provocation to French citizens living in Israel,” Habib said.

He called for a “realistic foreign policy” that would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and acknowledge the common foe that is radical Islam.