BUDAPEST — Armed Israeli security officers entered a French-administered site in Jerusalem and briefly detained two French consular employees, sparking a diplomatic row between the two countries.
The incident at the Sanctuary of Eleona, a Christian pilgrimage site on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, took place shortly before French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot was planning to visit. Barrot is in the region for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
Footage filmed by a journalist at the scene shows what appears to be a French security officer repeatedly saying “don’t touch me” to Israeli officers before being physically detained, marched out of the compound and led to a police car.
Barrot told reporters that armed Israeli security forces entered the site, which is owned by France and administered by the French Consulate in Jerusalem, without French authorization and initially refused to leave. The church is one of four sites owned by France in Israel and has been the site of diplomatic incidents in the past.
France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it will summon Israel’s ambassador over the incident in the coming days.
“The situation was unacceptable,” Barrot said. He added that the incident was likely to strain ties between France and Israel at a time when “we all need to move toward peace in the region.”
French-Israeli relations have been increasingly fraught over the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and Israeli strikes against the Hezbollah militant group in neighboring Lebanon, a country that has historic ties to France.
Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron called for an arms embargo against Israel, a comment that triggered an angry rebuff from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. While Macron has continually trumpeted Israel’s right to respond following the Oct. 7 terror attacks, he has become increasingly critical of the Netanyahu government’s response in Gaza, where more than 40,000 have died since Israel’s invasion last year, and the more recent incursion into Lebanon.
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