From the Liveblog of
Thursday, November 7, 2024
France to summon Israeli envoy after diplomats held amid tussle over church visit
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
The Foreign Ministry in Paris says it will summon Israel’s ambassador after two French guards with diplomatic visas were arrested during a scuffle ahead of Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot’s visit to a French-owned church in Jerusalem.
“Without having been authorized to do so, Israeli security forces entered the site armed,” says a French statement, referring to the Eleona Church on the Mount of Olives. “The minister did not wish to visit the site under these conditions.”
According to France, two staffers from the French Consulate in Jerusalem were arrested by police, and were released once Barrot intervened.
“These actions are unacceptable,” says the statement. “France condemns them all the more vigorously as they are occurring in a context where it is doing everything possible to work towards de-escalating violence in the region.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry places the blame on the two French diplomats.
“Every minister from a foreign country who arrives on an official visit to Israel is accompanied by security on behalf of the state, and the security accompanies the minister’s movements in all parts of his visit,” says the ministry.
Barrot’s visit to the church was accompanied by personal security provided by Israel, which was “clarified in advance in the preparatory dialogue with the French Embassy in Israel.”
“During the visit, an argument arose between the Israeli security forces and two French security guards who refused to identify themselves,” says the Foreign Ministry. “The two were detained by the police and released immediately after identifying themselves as diplomats.”
