It has been a rough couple of weeks for Israeli-French relations, bookended by political insults and rocket attacks.

 

Tensions arose last week after France’s president, Nicolas Sarkozy, was overheard by reporters calling Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, a “liar” at the Group of 20 summit in Cannes. While addressing American President Barack Obama in what he thought was a private conversation, Sarkozy said he “can’t stand to see him [Netanyahu] any more, he’s a liar.”

 

(Obama didn’t exactly endear himself with the Israeli leader, by responding to Sarkozy with: “You are fed up with him, but me, I have to deal with him every day.”)

 

Relations between France and Israel heated up even more this week after the Israeli Air Force attacked a target in Gaza and in the process injured the leader of the French consulate just five days after the “liar” comment.

 

Majdi Shakura, assistant director of the French Cultural Center in Gaza, sustained cuts after shrapnel from the nearby blast blew out the windows of his home. Shakura’s teenage daughter also was hurt and his wife suffered a miscarriage as a result of the explosion.

 

France’s Foreign Ministry reacted sternly towards Israel, warning it to cease endangering civilians while going after Hamas, which controls Gaza.

 

The airstrike was reportedly aimed at the home of a Hamas member.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Sarkozy Overheard Telling Obama That Netanyahu is a 'Liar' (by Alexandra Zavis and Edmund Sanders, Los Angeles Times)

France ‘Warns’ Israel Over Gaza Casualties (New Middle East News)