"A letter that instrumentalizes anti-Semitism": the American ambassador to France provokes an outcry

It's not every day that we see the left agree with Emmanuel Macron. The day after its publication by AFP, the letter addressed by the American ambassador to France, Charles Kushner, to Emmanuel Macron, was on the agenda of the morning news on Monday, August 25. The vitriolic letter, which denounces the president's "lack of sufficient action" "in the face of the surge in anti-Semitism in France ," and earned its author a summons to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this Monday, drew disapproval from across the political spectrum, with a few minor differences.

First, the government. A guest on TF1, the Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade, Laurent Saint-Martin, denounced the "totally erroneous and unacceptable remarks," asserting instead that "France has no lessons to learn in the fight against anti-Semitism . " "We will indeed summon the American ambassador to France first so that he can explain the content of this letter, and perhaps at the same time remind him of international law, which stipulates that one does not interfere in the internal affairs of the state in which one is resident," he insisted.

"There is no ambiguity about the State's fight" on this issue, added Aurore Bergé, Minister Delegate for the Fight against Discrimination, on Europe 1. "France's fight, the French government's fight, is unambiguous in the face of anti-Semitism. There is no ambiguous statement, no ambiguous attitude, no ambiguous action on our part, on the part of the Minister of the Interior, of Justice, or even of the President of the Republic, in the fight against anti-Semitism," she added. The former LR member agrees, however, that if anti-Semitism ebbs compared to 2024, the summer of 2025, when "we have reached intolerable thresholds" in terms of anti-Semitism in France , will be the summer of 2025.

On the left of the political spectrum, the ambassador's remarks were also sharply criticized. Former President François Hollande spoke of "a letter that exploits anti-Semitism" on France Inter and insinuated that "every criticism addressed to the Netanyahu government would in reality be a way of encouraging anti-Semitism or even supporting Hamas. This is unacceptable," he said.

The same story on RTL is echoed by former rebel Clémentine Autain, who believes that "one can criticize Emmanuel Macron for many things, but not for being ambiguous" about anti-Semitism. For the Sevran representative, the letter has only one goal: to equate any criticism of Israel's policy with an anti-Semitic act. "We must be careful that this climate does not produce anti-Semitism," she warns.

Also very angry, the leader of France Insoumise in the National Assembly, Mathilde Panot, assures that with this letter, "it is not only Emmanuel Macron who is attacked, but it is the entire French people." "In the letter, it is stated that it is France's action to recognize the State of Palestine that endangers Jewishness in France. No one can accept this," she declared on BFMTV.

On the far right, the anger is more nuanced. "On the form, it's not up to the US ambassador to give lessons," says RN MP Julien Odoul. "On the substance, I regret to say that he is right. Unfortunately, the French state and Emmanuel Macron's government have done nothing in the eight years they have been in power to combat the exploding hatred of Jews."

Some 646 anti-Semitic acts were recorded in France from January to June 2025, a 27.5% decrease compared to the same period in 2024. These figures are, however, still significantly higher than those recorded from January to June 2023, i.e., before October 7, according to data released by the Ministry of the Interior on Monday. With 1,570 acts in 2024, Beauvau had recorded a decline in anti-Semitic acts in one year, while the increase observed after the October 7 attacks had brought anti-Semitism to a "historic" level.