France, Israel at loggerheads after French officials briefly arrested in Jerusalem

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By John Irish

PARIS (Reuters) -France accused Israel on Thursday of harming bilateral ties after Israeli security forces entered a holy site under French administration in Jerusalem and briefly detained two French officials with diplomatic status.

The incident occurred as French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot was due to visit the compound of The Church of the Pater Noster on the Mount of Olives. The site, one of four administered by France in Jerusalem, is under Paris’ responsibility and deemed part of France.

French diplomatic sources said Israeli security had been told not to enter before Barrot’s visit.

However, they did so and as a consequence Barrot refused to enter the compound, called Eleona in French, while they were present. Two French security officials were then briefly arrested, the sources said, adding that the Israelis were aware the two were from the consulate and had diplomatic status.

Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement that an argument arose between the Israeli security forces and two French security guards. They were released immediately after they identified themselves as diplomats, it said.

The dispute casts a shadow over diplomatic relations that are already strained over Israel’s military operations in Gaza and Lebanon.

“This violation of the integrity of a site under French responsibility risks undermining the ties I had come to nurture with Israel at a time when we all need to move forward the region on the path to peace”, a visibly angry Barrot told reporters outside the building.

Israel’s foreign ministry said that every visiting foreign leader is accompanied by its security personnel, a point that had been “clarified in advance in the preparatory dialogue with the French Embassy in Israel.”

A French diplomatic source said the Israeli authorities were disseminating “false allegations” and that a line had not yet been drawn under the incident.

The Israeli ambassador to Paris will be summoned in the coming days, the French foreign ministry said in a statement.

Diplomatic relations between France and Israel have worsened since President Emmanuel Macron called for an end to the supply to Israel of offensive weapons used in Gaza. The French government also attempted to ban Israeli weapons’ firms from exhibiting at a trade fair in Paris and has become increasingly uneasy over Israel’s conduct in the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

French officials have repeatedly said that Paris is committed to Israel’s security and that its military helped defend Israel amid Iranian missile attacks earlier this year.

Barrot’s trip had aimed to press Israel to engage diplomatically to end the conflicts in the region now that the U.S. presidential election is over.

It was not the first time that tensions have arisen surrounding France’s historic holdings in the city.

In 2020, Macron lost his temper when visiting the Church of St. Anne, another site under French administration, demanding Israeli security personnel leave the Jerusalem basilica.

A similar incident took place in 1996 involving France’s then-president Jacques Chirac, who saw his treatment by Israeli security as a “provocation”.

(Reporting by John Irish, Tassilo Hummel, Piotr Lipinski, and Emily Rose in Jerusalem; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Rosalba O’Brien)