Israel / Palestine

France and Israel

Date of update: March 25th 2026 Information still valid as of today's date

Visits

Visits to France:

Mr Reuven Rivlin, President of the State of Israel, 22-25 January 2019
Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, 11 November 2018
Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, 5 June 2018
Mr Eli Cohen, Minister of Economy and Industry, 14 February 2018
Mr Aryeh Deri, Minister of Interior, 10 February 2018
Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, 10 December 2017
Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, 16 July 2017
Ms Miri Regev, Minister of Culture and Sport, 14-21 May 2017
Mr Yisrael Katz, Minister of Transportation and Road Safety, Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy, 26-30 January 2017

Latest visits to Israel:

Mr Emmanuel Macron, President of the Republic, 22-23 January 2020
Mr Franck Riester, Minister of Culture, 29-30 November 2019, to Israel
Mr Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, 25-26 March 2018, to Israel and the Palestinian Territories
Mr Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy and Finance, 4-6 September 2017, to Israel and the Palestinian Territories
Mr Mounir Mahjoubi, Minister of State for the Digital Sector, 5-7 September 2017, to Israel and the Palestinian Territories
Mr Juliette Méadel, Minister of State for Victim Assistance, attached to the Prime Minister, 2-3 March 2017, to Israel and the Palestinian Territories
Mr Gérard Larcher, President of the Senate, 2-5 January 2017, to Israel and the Palestinian Territories
Mr François Hollande, President of the Republic, 29-30 September 2016, for the funeral of Mr Shimon Peres
Mr Emmanuel Macron, Minister of the Economy, Industry and the Digital Sector, 7-8 September 2015, to the Palestinian Territories and Israel where he attended the DLD Tel Aviv Innovation Festival
Mr François Hollande, President of the Republic, 17-19 November 2013, state visit

Cultural, scientific and technical cooperation

Cultural, scientific and technical cooperation is based on a 1959 bilateral agreement. The Embassy of France in Tel Aviv has substantial means at its disposal to implement the agreement, in coordination with the French Institute of Israel in Tel Aviv, which has two satellites in Haifa and Nazareth, the French Research Centre in Jerusalem (CRFJ – archaeology and humanities), and the four Agency for French Education Abroad (AEFE) schools (one of which under contract with the Agency, the others being partners).

France works actively to develop active use of French, with the Francophone community in Israel estimated at more than 500,000 people.

France is Israel’s fifth-largest cooperation partner in scientific and technological research. This cooperation is based on academic partnerships (including the joint laboratory of INSERM Nice and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa) and exchanges of young researchers. Since 2003, a French-Israeli High Council for Research and Scientific and Technological Cooperation has made sure this cooperation is coherent.

Under the 1959 agreement, France also works to bring members of civil society closer together through cultural events and an intensive communication policy.
The France-Israel cross-cultural season was held from June to November 2018 in the two countries simultaneously. Focused on innovation, it involved all aspects of cooperation between France and Israel. Its objective was to target youth and develop a multidisciplinary programme focused on contemporary design, the cultural and creative industries (series, film, etc.), the digital economy (French Tech and Start-up Nation), academic cooperation, Francophonie and innovation (for example the French-Israeli VENµS satellite). The cross-cultural season opened at the Grand Palais in Paris on 5 June 2018, in the presence of the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, and Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

For more information, visit:

Other cooperation

Other areas of cooperation have developed since 2006: sustainable development, including cooperation on management of water resources; the fight against organized crime and terrorism; telecommunications; and transport.

In addition to these government or private-sector actions come the events implemented since November 2006 by the France-Israel Foundation and those initiated under decentralized cooperation, where France holds second place behind Germany with 66 partnerships between local and regional authorities.