When Emmanuel Macron announced that France intended to recognise Palestinian statehood, he drew a furious rebuke from Israel – and caused a diplomatic storm with the US. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, wrote a letter accusing the French government of failing to “confront the alarming rise of antisemitism” in France, adding the harsh and unequivocal assessment: “Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on this antisemitic fire.”

In the same letter, he praised Donald Trump’s action to “protect the civil rights of American Jews”.

The French president’s office responded by condemning Netanyahu’s remarks as “abhorrent”. France had “no lessons to learn when it comes to fighting antisemitism”, said Benjamin Haddad, the French minister delegate for Europe.

But the US ambassador to France, Charles Kushner, backed the Israeli prime minister in an open letter to Macron in the Wall Street Journal. Kushner, whose son is married to Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, claimed that recognising a Palestinian state would “embolden extremists … and endanger Jewish life in France”.

In a highly unusual step, Kushner was then summoned after the French foreign ministry said his allegations were “unacceptable” and a violation of the international legal duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of other nations.

Kushner was not wrong to say antisemitism in France is a serious concern: it has been a stain on the country’s history for centuries. Murders, assaults and other crimes targeting Jewish individuals and communities have heightened a sense of fear over the last two decades. Since Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, the number of antisemitic incidents – including physical violence, threats and property damage – has surged.

More broadly, France has struggled to tackle........

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