Comments come after US ambassador accused government of failing to do enough to stem hate crimes against Jews
Cabinet ministers and Jewish groups have said France has “no lessons to take” from the US on tackling antisemitism, as Washington’s ambassador to Paris was summoned after accusing the government of failing to do enough to stem hate crimes against Jews.
Charles Kushner, who is Jewish, was ordered to report to the foreign ministry on Monday after he wrote a letter to Emmanuel Macron criticising a “lack of sufficient action” by the government to confront the “dramatic rise” in antisemitism in France.
“In France, not a day passes without Jews assaulted in the street, synagogues or schools defaced, or Jewish-owned businesses vandalised,” Kushner, whose son Jared is Donald Trump’s son-in-law, said in the letter, published in the Washington Post on Sunday.
He urged the French president to enforce hate-crime laws and tone down criticism of Israel, saying Macron’s pledge that France would formally recognise a Palestinian state at the UN in September had further fuelled antisemitic incidents in France.
