Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu surprised French President Emmanuel Macron last year by requesting that France renew security protection for French Jewish parliament member Meyer Habib, Channel 10 reports.
Netanyahu made the unusual request at a meeting with Macron in Paris in December 2017, the TV network says citing two French sources with knowledge of the affair.
Habib, a pro-Israel businessman and close associate of the Israeli leader, has been a frequent target for threats on his life. Most recently, the French parliament was evacuated in August due to white powder sent to his office. In the past he had police protection, but authorities stopped providing it after deeming him safe.
French-Jewish lawmaker Meyer Habib with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem in May 2017. (Screenshot)
The French sources say Macron was surprised Netanyahu would make such a request, both because it involves a specific French citizen and since it deals with internal French affairs.
Despite that, security around Habib was reinstated a month after the request.
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