Palestinian Territories - Q&A - Excerpts from the daily press briefing (May 3)

In his speech on April 30, the Palestinian president said Jews living in Europe had experienced massacres every 10 to 15 years in some countries between the 11th century and the Holocaust, and that the hatred for Jews wasn’t connected to their religion but to their “social function,” that the problem facing the Jews in Europe was due to their work, because of their involvement in usury and banking. Do you have any comment on these statements?

France shares the emotions roused by these remarks by President Abbas. We deplore them and consider them false, unfortunate and inappropriate.

France calls on all parties to act in a spirit of peace and dialogue, in order to create the conditions needed for a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. This requires the utmost responsibility in the public expressions of each of the parties.

France reiterates its condemnation, in the strongest possible terms, of anti-Semitism in all its forms and its determination to relentlessly combat this scourge.