In an unprecedented initiative, a dozen French ambassadors to the Middle East and the Maghreb have signed a joint note, sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris, in which they regret what they consider an attitude that is too favorable to Israel on the part of President Emmanuel Macron in the current Gaza conflict.
In the document, whose existence was revealed by the newspaper Le Figaro, the diplomatic officials complain that Macron's behavior since last October 7 "is in breach of our traditionally balanced position between Israelis and Palestinians."
The newspaper also quotes – this time by name – three other former ambassadors to Arab countries and another active Quai d'Orsay official who express solidarity with the spirit of the note in question. According to the latter, the signatories “have assumed their responsibilities” and their action “is a first stage.”
The text of the dissident ambassadors echoes “a loss of credibility and influence of France, and confirms the poor image of our country in the Arab world,” according to a source cited by Le Figaro. Although with diplomatic softness, the ambassadors attribute this drift to the Elysée.
The warning note is the result of the ambassadors' concern about the demonstrations in front of their legations and the fact that France is the object, although to a lesser extent than the United States and Great Britain, of the anger of the local populations. “Sometimes we are accused of complicity in genocide,” said a young diplomat stationed in the Middle East. An ambassador has even received death threats. Faced with previous crises such as the publication of cartoons of Muhammad, this time there are fears that the anger towards France will go further and could be long-lasting. In these countries, Paris is accused of having betrayed its differentiated position from the past.
Both the presidency of the Republic and the ministry tried to minimize the note of disagreement, refusing to comment on the details of diplomatic dispatches that, by definition, are confidential, and emphasizing that the direction of foreign policy is carried out by the head of state and the Government emerged from the polls. The spokesman for the Executive, Olivier Véran, reaffirmed before the microphones of France Inter the influence that France continues to have in the region. “Few heads of state are capable of having direct contacts with their most influential counterparts to intervene in this conflict and of bringing together so many heads of state in their capital to discuss humanitarian aid” (alluding to a recent conference), Véran stressed.
In Macron's statements in recent days there is a desire to correct the shot and preserve balance, although in the end a somewhat confusing image is given. What he said on Friday to the BBC about the need for Israel to stop killing innocent civilians had a lot of impact. Hours later he had to call the top Israeli leaders to qualify his words. According to Macron, he never wanted to accuse the Israeli army of knowingly killing civilians, but rather he spoke of the collateral victims of its bombings.
Macron's attitude is not easy, at the head of a country with the largest Jewish and Muslim communities in Europe. Forty French people were killed in the Hamas terrorist attacks and seven are believed to be hostages. The French president chose not to attend last Sunday's demonstration against anti-Semitism in Paris, an absence for which he was criticized.
The note from the dissatisfied ambassadors can also be interpreted in the context of general unease among diplomats towards Macron due to the decision he made last year to gradually eliminate the two career diplomatic corps that exist in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The philosophy of such a substantial reform is to end the corporatist temptation and open the diplomatic career to people from other professional backgrounds, but the measure has been harshly criticized for the risk of weakening French diplomacy, which is very proud of its extensive deployment. in the world and the prestige of its staff.
