French minister scraps holy site visit after Israeli police arrest gendarmes
French minister scraps holy site visit after Israeli police arrest gendarmes
France summons Israeli ambassador over incident at Eleona domain in Jerusalem which is under French control
France has summoned the Israeli ambassador over the incident, the latest of several controversies involving the Eleona sanctuary on the Mount of Olives, which along with three other sites make up the French national domain in the Holy Land.
The sites have been the focus of diplomatic incidents in the past. The national domain was attributed to France before Israel’s creation in 1948 and is administered as a private property by the French consulate in Jerusalem.
According to an AFP journalist who witnessed the incident, Israeli police entered the site and surrounded the two French gendarmes before pushing one of them to the ground.
The gendarme identified himself and shouted “Don’t touch me” several times, according to the journalist. Both gendarmes were then led into police cars, before being later released.
For those who don't know, french gendarmes are part of the military. Those Israeli policemen just assaulted a French soldier on French soil which, you know, is usually a pretty big diplomatic no-no
So, an act of war against NATO.
I imagine that technicality is going to be that it was (apparently) Israeli police not IDF.
So what? The only diplomacy they need is the us on their side
If France pushes for full economic sanctions on Israel their economy will tank even further. The EU is Israels largest trading partner with 22% of their exports (second after US with 26%) and 31% on imports (US second with 13%).
If the EU uses that to pressure other nations like Turkey and Azerbaidschan it gets grim. Of course the US can throw them a permanent lifeline. At some 50-100 billion $ a year of economic aid on top of the military aid. I wonder how popular an "Israel support tax" of 500$ would be with the average American.
For a terrorist state, this is a mild incident. But maybe it will help to show that Israel is not a lawful state. Making it easier to understand that they are not acting lawfully in many other areas.
This is the first I hear about this territory being claimed by France, and there's no mention of it on the French Wikipedia page for the Mont des Oliviers. Is there any source whatsoever to corroborate that?
I think this is the compound mentioned: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Pater_Noster
Ah, thanks! This is interesting:
Selon Frédéric Encel, géopolitologue et spécialiste du conflit israélo-palestinien, « un policier ou un soldat en armes d’un autre pays n’a pas le droit d’y rentrer sans l’accord du consulat français »10, cependant selon Gérard Araud, ancien ambassadeur de France en Israël, ce domaine ne constitue pas, à la différence d’un consulat une « emprise diplomatique » aux termes notamment de la Convention de Vienne10.
The quotes say that a police officer or soldier of a foreign country cannot enter without permission of the French consulate, but that the region does not constitute a diplomatic enclave.
Sorry, we thought this was Palestine!