Aug. 24 (UPI) — France summoned U.S. Ambassador Charles Kushner on Sunday after he published an open letter to French President Emmanuel Macron accusing the government of failing to effectively take action on anti-Semitism.
The French Foreign Ministry issued a statement to CNN saying Kushner would be expected at the ministry’s Paris headquarters Monday.
In the letter, published Sunday in The Wall Street Journal and dated Monday, Kushner wrote to Macron that he was concerned about “the dramatic rise of anti-Semitism in France and the lack of sufficient action by your government to confront it.” Kushner, the father-in-law of President Donald Trump‘s daughter, Ivanka Trump, has served as the ambassador of France for less than seven weeks.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, “pro-Hamas extremists and radical activists have waged a campaign of intimidation and violence across Europe,” Kushner wrote.
The French Foreign Ministry denied the allegations and called Kushner’s comments “unacceptable.”
“The rise in anti-Semitic acts in France since the 7 October, 2023, is a reality that we deplore and against which French authorities are totally mobilized, because these actions are intolerable,” the ministry said, referencing the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas that sparked the Israel-Hamas war.
Kushner took issue with France’s plans to recognize an independent Palestinian state in September, saying that doing so gives “legitimacy to Hamas and its allies.”
“Public statements haranguing Israel and gestures towards recognition of a Palestinian state emboldened extremists, fuel violence and endanger Jewish life in France,” Kushner wrote. “In today’s world, anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism — plain and simple.”
Macron announced in July that he plans to make a formal statement recognizing Palestine at U.N. headquarters in New York City. He said it was part of France’s “historical commitment to a just and durable peace in the Middle East.”
“The urgent priority today is to end the war in Gaza and to bring relief to the civilian population,” Macron said in a post on X.
Several other Western nations have come out in favor of a Palestinian state, including Canada, Spain, Norway and Ireland.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States was against France’s plans in July.
“This reckless decision only serves Hamas propaganda and sets back peace. It is a slap in the face to the victims of October 7th,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Macron of leading a “crusade against the Jewish state.”
Israelis held hostage by Hamas hold a nationwide protest strike in
Jerusalem, on August 17, 2025. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo