France summons US Ambassador Kushner over 'unacceptable' letter about
rising antisemitism
[August 26, 2025]
By SYLVIE CORBET and MICHELLE L. PRICE
PARIS (AP) — France's foreign ministry officials met Monday with a
representative of U.S. ambassador Charles Kushner after the American
diplomat was summoned over his letter to French President Emmanuel
Macron alleging the country did not do enough to combat antisemitism.
Monday's meeting took place after Paris rejected Kushner’s criticism as
“unacceptable” and announced it had summoned him. Since the diplomat was
absent, French officials met with the embassy’s No. 2 in his stead.
The summoning of the ambassador is a formal and public notice of
displeasure.
During Monday's meeting, French officials denounced the letter as
“interference” in France's internal affairs and said it “presented a
view that did not correspond to the reality” of authorities' fight
against antisemitism, according to a French diplomatic official who
spoke under condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott on Sunday evening said
it stood by Kushner's comments, adding: "Ambassador Kushner is our U.S.
government representative in France and is doing a great job advancing
our national interests in that role.”
Kushner, a real-estate developer, is the father of President Donald
Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The French foreign ministry, in its statement, said “France firmly
rejects these allegations” from Kushner and that French authorities have
“fully mobilized” to combat a rise in antisemitic acts since the Oct. 7,
2023 attack by Hamas on Israel, deeming the acts “intolerable.”
In the letter, released late on Sunday, Kushner writes that “public
statements haranguing Israel and gestures toward recognition of a
Palestinian state embolden extremists, fuel violence and endanger Jewish
life in France.”
Kushner urges Macron “to act decisively: enforce hate-crime laws without
exception, ensure the safety of Jewish schools, synagogues and
businesses ... and abandon steps that give legitimacy to Hamas and its
allies.”
Kushner’s allegations violate international law and the obligation not
to interfere with the internal affairs of another country, the French
ministry said, and, “They also fall short of the quality of the
transatlantic partnership between France and the United States and of
the trust that must prevail between allies.”
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Charles Kushner arrives for the funeral of Ivana Trump, July 20,
2022, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
The dustup follows Macron's rejection this past week of accusations
from Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that France's
intention to recognize a Palestinian state is fueling antisemitism.
France is home to the largest Jewish population in Europe, with an
estimated 500,000 Jews, the third-largest Jewish population in the
world after Israel and the United States. That’s approximately 1% of
the national population.
The diplomatic discord comes as French-U.S. relations have faced
tensions this year amid Trump's trade war and a split over the
future of U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon. France in particular has
objected to the U.S. push to wind down the peacekeeping operation
known as UNIFIL, with a vote on the issue set for the end of the
month by the U.N. Security Council.
France and the U.S. have also been divided on support for Ukraine in
its war with Russia, but the split has eased with Trump expressing
support for security guarantees and a warm meeting with Macron and
other European leaders at the White House last week.
Trump at the end of his first term as president pardoned Charles
Kushner, who pleaded guilty years earlier to tax evasion and making
illegal campaign donations.
His son Jared is a former White House senior adviser to Trump who is
married to Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka.
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Price reported from Washington, D.C.
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