From the Liveblog of
Friday, May 23, 2025
French FM accuses Netanyahu of slander after PM called out leaders of France, UK, Canada in connection to DC shooting
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleFrench Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of slander after the Israeli premier claimed that the leaders of France, the UK, and Canada are “on the wrong side of history,” for issuing a joint statement calling on Israel to end its war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza, let aid into the Strip, and allow a pathway to Palestinian statehood.
“Everyone knows that France is unwaveringly committed to Israel’s security and has already demonstrated this through its actions,” Barrot tweets.
“By mobilizing its military resources when Israel was targeted by Iranian ballistic missile attacks. By firmly opposing Iran’s access to nuclear weapons,” he says.
“France is determined to combat antisemitism wherever it exists. It is determined to ensure that Hamas, a terrorist movement, is disarmed and permanently excluded from the political future in Gaza.”
“Accusing anyone who advocates the two-state solution of encouraging anti-Semitism or Hamas is absurd and slanderous,” Barrot adds.
Netanyahu had called out the French, British and Canadian leaders again after a far-left extremist shot dead two Israeli embassy staffers outside of an American Jewish Committee event in Washington.
The prime minister said the global movement calling to “Free Palestine” — which is what the alleged shooter shouted during his arrest — “doesn’t want a Palestinian state. They want to destroy the Jewish state [and] annihilate the Jewish people.”
“I could never understand how this simple truth evades the leaders of France, Britain, Canada and others,” the prime minister charged. The three leaders “are now proposing to establish a Palestinian state and reward these murderers with the ultimate prize.”
He then said the French, British, and Canadian leaders “have bought into Hamas propaganda that says Israel is starving Palestinian children,” an apparent reference to the leaders’ call for Israel to allow humanitarian aid to enter the enclave.
The Times of Israel Community.