Netanyahu’s Paris Visit Mired in Controversy
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Uriel Sinai/Getty images(PARIS) — As much as President Obama received criticism for his no-show at the Paris solidarity march Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is getting more heat for actually appearing there.
Initially, Netanyahu was supposed to have stayed home at the request of President Francois Hollande, who feared that the prime minister would inadvertently throw the spotlight on his country’s conflict with the Palestinians.
However, Netanyahu reversed course, which led to Hollande inviting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Israeli leader also took barbs at home when he apparently muscled his way to the front of the march line to join Hollande, Abbas and German Chancellor Angela Merkel among others world leaders.
One Israeli columnist wrote sarcastically, “Only our leaders know the elbowing drill.”
Meanwhile, Netanyahu came under fire for suggesting that French Jews migrate to Israel for security reasons following the slaying of four people last Friday by one of the terrorists at a kosher market.
On Monday, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said he told Netanyahu that he resented the suggestion that the French can’t take care of their own.
Netanyahu tried tempering the criticism in remarks to French Jewish leaders, saying, “There is great significance to what the world saw: the prime minister of Israel marching with all the leaders of the world in a united effort against terrorism.”
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