fbpx

France will stand with Israel, Sarkozy tells Jewish leaders

France will always stand with Israel against Iran\'s nuclear threat, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told Jewish leaders.
[additional-authors]
November 10, 2011

France will always stand with Israel against Iran’s nuclear threat, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told Jewish leaders.

A delegation from the World Jewish Congress (WJC) met Nov. 9 with Sarkozy — a day after reports surfaced that the French leader called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a liar” in a private conversation with President Barack Obama.

“France will always stand side by side with Israel against an Iran that threatens it by developing nuclear weapons,” Sarkozy said at the meeting, according to a news release issued Nov. 9 by the WJC, after the delegation had raised the subject of the looming threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.

Sarkozy added that Israel had no better security partner than his government and called on Israelis and Palestinians to resume direct negotiations immediately.

Sarkozy said that the Palestinian leadership had to fully endorse the principle of two states for two peoples and accept that Israel was the nation-state of the Jewish people, just as Israel had accepted the right of Palestinians to live in their own nation-state.

The news release made no mention of Sarkozy’s “liar” comment.

The WJC delegation was headed by WJC President Ronald Lauder and the president of the French Jewish umbrella organization CRIF, Richard Prasquier.

Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.

Editor's Picks

Latest Articles

Print Issue: Got College? | Mar 29, 2024

With the alarming rise in antisemitism across many college campuses, choosing where to apply has become more complicated for Jewish high school seniors. Some are even looking at Israel.

More news and opinions than at a
Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.