Hindsight : August 2025

Sunday, August 24, 2025

KUSHER LETTER TO MACRON ABOUT FRENCH ANTI-SEMITES

Open Source Intel

U.S. ambassador to France Charles Kushner in an open letter to Macron. Dear President Macron, On the 81st anniversary of the Allied Liberation of Paris, which ended the deportation of Jews from French soil, I write out of deep concern over the dramatic rise of antisemitism in France and the lack of sufficient action by your government to confront it. Antisemitism has long scarred French life, but it has exploded since Hamas’s barbaric assault on Oct. 7, 2023. Since then, pro-Hamas extremists and radical activists have waged a campaign of intimidation and violence across Europe. In France, not a day passes without Jews assaulted in the street, synagogues or schools defaced, or Jewish-owned businesses vandalized. Your own Interior Ministry has reported antisemitic incidents even at preschools. Public statements haranguing Israel and gestures toward recognition of a Palestinian state embolden extremists, fuel violence, and endanger Jewish life in France. In today’s world, anti-Zionism is antisemitism—plain and simple. President Trump and I have Jewish children and share Jewish grandchildren. I know how he feels about antisemitism, as do all Americans. He directed the Education Department to enforce civil-rights protections for Jewish students on university campuses, making clear that harassment and discrimination won’t be tolerated. He expanded resources for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security to safeguard synagogues and Jewish schools. He ordered strict vetting to bar entry for foreigners espousing antisemitic hatred and revoked visas for foreign agitators. He oversaw the deportation of Hamas sympathizers and cut funding to organizations promoting antisemitic incitement. And by crippling Iran’s nuclear-weapons program, he struck directly at the world’s leading state sponsor of antisemitism and terror and saved millions of lives. These measures prove that antisemitism can be fought effectively when leaders have the will to act. Today, many French Jews fear that history will repeat itself in Europe. Parents encourage their children to emigrate; surveys show most French citizens believe another Holocaust could happen in Europe. Nearly half of French youth report never having heard of the Holocaust at all. What are children being taught in French schools if such ignorance persists? Mr. President, I urge you to act decisively: enforce hate-crime laws without exception; ensure the safety of Jewish schools, synagogues and businesses, prosecute offenders to the fullest extent; and abandon steps that give legitimacy to Hamas and its allies. As U.S. ambassador to France, I stand ready to work with you and with leaders across French society to forge a serious plan that addresses the roots of antisemitism and defeats it.