French Ambassador to Israel Hélène le Gal was summoned by the Foreign Ministry for reprimand on Monday over comments made earlier in the week by former French Ambassador to the United States Gérard Araud in which he declared Israel an "apartheid state."
The summoning was first reported to i24NEWS on Monday evening by French lawmaker Meyer Habib.
"Relations are not good, they are deteriorating every day a little more," Habib told i24NEWS of the controversy over Araud's remarks, adding that the Israeli government has instructed officials not to meet with Araud during his upcoming visit to the country.
Araud said during an interview with The Atlantic last week that Israel must decide between leaving Palestinians "totally stateless or make them citizens of Israel."
"[Israel] won't make them citizens of Israel. So they will have to make it official, which is we know the situation, which is an apartheid. There will be officially an apartheid state. They are in fact already," he said.
In addition to Araud's comments, relations between France and Israel grew tense this week over Paris' reported opposition to Israel's decision to freeze the transfer of tax revenues collected on behalf of the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority over its payments to convicted terrorists and other security prisoners.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected France's request to reverse the freeze, calling it in a statement "diplomatically and morally wrong."
"It goes against European countries' principles for fighting terror," Netanyahu said. "Israel will carry on in accordance with its policy and by the laws set by the Knesset."
This article was originally published by i24NEWS. Read more at https://www.i24news.tv/en.
