Why Benjamin Netanyahu Attended Paris Anti-Terror March Over France's Objections

[Purveyor]

By Haaretz and Barak Ravid
Published January 11, 2015.



French President Francois Hollande asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to come to Paris for the march against terror on Sunday, but the Israel premier decided to attend anyway after hearing that political rivals were going to be there, according to an Israeli source who was involved in the contacts between the Elysees Palace and the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem. The fact that this message had been conveyed was first reported by Channel 2.

After the French government began to send invitations to world leaders to participate in the rally against terror, Hollande’s national security adviser, Jacques Audibert, contacted his Israeli counterpart, Yossi Cohen, and said that Hollande would prefer that Netanyahu not attend, the source said.

Audibert explained that Hollande wanted the event to focus on demonstrating solidarity with France, and to avoid anything liable to divert attention to other controversial issues, like Jewish-Muslim relations or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Audibert said that Hollande hoped that Netanyahu would understand the difficulties his arrival might pose and would announce that he would not be attending.

The source noted that one of the French concerns - not conveyed to representatives of the Israeli government - was that Netanyahu would take advantage of the event for campaign purposes and make speeches, especially about the Jews of France. Such statements, the Elysee Palace feared, would hurt the demonstration of solidarity the French government was trying to promote as part of dealing with the terror attacks.
getty images

According to the source, Netanyahu at first acquiesced to the French request. In any case, the Shin Bet security service unit that protects public figures considered the arrangements for the prime minister’s security to be complex. And so, on Saturday evening, Netanyahu’s people announced that he would not be flying to Paris because of security concerns. Netanyahu told the French he would come to France on Tuesday for a Jewish community event.

Read more: http://forward.com/articles/212537/why-benjamin-netanyahu-attended-paris-anti-terror/#ixzz3OZwDzS2B

[gratuitous]

1. Bibi keeping an eye on the competition?

I mean, killing 12 journalists is a pretty good day's work, but Bibi's government killed at least 17 journalists this past summer. Gotta keep an eye on the new kids on the block, right Mr. Netanyahu?

[former9thward]

3. Maybe you should link to the slander

that Israel killed 17 journalists this summer.

[SunSeeker]

5. Just a quick Google search popped up this UN Report:

It appears from this UN report that Isreal targeted media in Gaza last summer, killing at least 15 journalists:
http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/E4E084EB25181C7B85257D4D0058B8D2

And then there's this with lots of links:
http://bennorton.com/un-israel-killed-15-journalists-in-summer-2014-purposefully-targeting-many/

And also this:
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/2166428

[Violet_Crumble]

7. Reporters Without Borders also has a lot of information on it...

http://en.rsf.org/palestine-journalists-lives-on-the-line-in-22-07-2014,46677.html

Netanyahu wasn't the only leader wearing hypocrisy on their sleeve, though I strongly suspect the poster yr replying to would totally agree with the rest with probably the exception of the US, the UK and NATO.

http://mic.com/articles/108166/one-student-s-epic-tweets-call-out-the-biggest-hypocrites-marching-for-free-speech-in-paris

[gratuitous]

9. Still think it's "slander"?

I got the information from my friends in Christian Peacemaker Teams Palestine, who have been in the area for decades, documenting the everyday little oppressions that seem to escape our intrepid Fourth Estate.

If you're interested in their reports, complete with photos and narratives:

https://www.facebook.com/cptpalestine?fref=nf

[former9thward]

14. Yes its slander.

The UN "Human Rights Commission" is a notorious anti-Israeli organization. Even their one page report did not give a shred of evidence how journalists were "purposely targeted". Your other links are typical hate Israeli sites where if an Israeli wakes up in the morning it is a crime against humanity.

How the United Nations Human Rights Council Unfairly Targets Israel

Curiously absent from the latest resolution is any mention of Hamas

There are 1,725 words in the latest resolution released by the United Nations Human Rights Council, which cynically chastises Israel for so-called “human rights violations” in Gaza.

Nowhere among those 1,725 words will you find the name of the terror organization that is truly responsible for every civilian death and every human rights violation in both Israel and Gaza: Hamas.

Instead of focusing on actual human rights violators around the world, as this international body was created to do, the UNHRC keeps its main focus on Israel—a nation that has gone to extraordinary lengths to protect and preserve the lives of civilians, both during this latest conflict and throughout previous defensive responses to Hamas’ terror.

http://time.com/3060203/united-nations-human-rights-council-israel/

[SunSeeker]

16. So Huffpo and the Associated Press are "typical hate Isreali sites"?

According to the AP, Israel admitted targeting the media building in Gaza, claiming those working there were not real journalists.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/2166428

[former9thward]

18. If you read the story they told the media to get out of the building.

Any who did not were not media but Hamas posers.

[SunSeeker]

21. The AP said they were journalists. Got links showing they were "Hamas posers"? nt

[former9thward]

22. The AP is a news gathering organization.

They don't have reporters. People send them stuff. They have no idea who is a reporter or not. They are not on the ground in Gaza. I believe Israel over the haters. You have a different viewpoint obviously.

[SunSeeker]

23. The AP are "the haters"?

Wow.

[elehhhhna]

29. the facts are ugly

[gratuitous]

25. Boo hoo

Sorry the UN doesn't meet your exacting standards, and my post was about the Netanyahu regime. You want to talk about Hamas, start another thread.

How about the unrefuted evidence gathered by my friends in CPT who, unlike you, are actually in Palestine documenting the atrocities, the deaths, the mean little everyday oppressions carried out by the Israelis, like armed soldiers harassing kids on their way to and from school?

Truth is an absolute defense to a charge of slander.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

35. Ah, yes. The evil UN. So evil that Netanyahu uses it as a bully pulpit whenever he has the need.

[former9thward]

2. Total BS.

Unnamed source as usual. No leader can visit France without their approval.

[SunSeeker]

6. Speaking of BS...

Last edited Mon Jan 12, 2015, 03:52 AM - Edit history (1)

Got a link for your assertion that "no leader can visit France without their approval"?

Israeli citizens don't even need a visa to visit France.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/france/practical-information/visas

[former9thward]

11. So you are saying someone can enter France

and there is nothing the French government can do about it? Why did the French have Netanyahu with the other leaders? They couldn't not stop that either? What nonsense.

[SunSeeker]

12. Netanyahu is not on a "no fly" list.

As an Israeli citizen, he can enter France for a visit without permission, he doesn't even need a visa.

And once he made clear he was coming, no they couldn't stop him without creating an awkward kerfuffle--and international incident. They really had no choice under the circumstances.

[former9thward]

13. I don't need a visa to enter France either.

Last edited Mon Jan 12, 2015, 03:30 PM - Edit history (1)

But when I went there I certainly had to go through passport control. If they did not want me there they would have detained me and sent me out on the next flight.

[SunSeeker]

15. What viable choice did France have once Netanyahu insisted on coming?

If it had pulled a visa stunt as you suggest, the right would have been up in arms, accusing France of caving to the terrorists--and Netanyahu would have accused France of anti-Semitism.

[Fred Sanders]

27. The leader of a country has no less rights than a citizen, some folks refuse to believe that Bibi

might have had his own self serving motives, like most of the rouges gallery that suppress dissent in their own nations by controlling the media and through fea, that attended their own little fake rally.

Bibi does not need a visa to go to France, he did not lose that right when he was elected.

[JI7]

4. i find this hard to believe

[Violet_Crumble]

8. I'm kind of suspecting there's a grain of truth in it...

Not the bit about being asked not to attend. I just can't see that making sense if the reason was a fear that his presence would distract from trying to unify all French, including Jews and Muslims because in that case Abbas would also have been asked not to attend.

I think it's more likely he may have been asked to respect the occasion and not use it to grandstand his WAR! WAR! WAR! routine. He has a reputation for incitement, which was well and truly earned in the lead up to the assassination of Rabin. I heard that none of the leaders spoke today, which is good imo...

[peoli]

10. Hollande’s anger at Netanyahu was evident during the ceremony held Sunday evening....

"Hollande’s anger at Netanyahu was evident during the ceremony held Sunday evening following the march at the Grand Synagogue in Paris, an event attended by hundreds of members of the local Jewish community.

Hollande sat through most of the ceremony, but when Netanyahu’s turn at the podium arrived, the French president got up from his seat and made an early exit."

[bullwinkle428]

17. I found Bibi's presence far more offensive than any absence by any American leader.

[WinkyDink]

20. Maybe if YOUR brother had been slain during the rescue at Entebbe.....

[tenderfoot]

28. If his brother were slain-he too could spend the rest of his life avenging his death at the expense

of others! Devil may care!

[OnePercentDem]

30. Why

I could care less if anyone from this administration attended this, it was a photo op. I'm glad Bibi went, he has much more to lose with the terrorist against his country.

[WinkyDink]

19. Because he knows about Vichy France? Because Parisian Jews are fleeing? Because A KOSHER STORE WAS

ATTACKED, NOT JUST THE MAGAZINE OFFICES?

[Luminous Animal]

31. From the Jewish Daily Forward..

How Bibi Tried To Make Paris All About Him

Israelis are having a hilarious time mocking their prime minister’s visit to Paris, with ironic tweets and Hebrew Facebook statuses galore.

For those who haven’t been following the story, Netanyahu crashed the national solidarity event despite President Hollande’s explicit request that he stay at home. Then, after the VIP reception at the Elysee Palace, cameras for a local media outlet caught him elbowing aside a female French minister as he tried to jump the queue for the bus that would transport the group to the starting point of the march. Finding himself relegated to the second row at the march itself, he shoved aside the president of Mali and inserted himself in the front row, one down from Hollande himself and within eyesight of Angela Merkel.

….

The day of bad behavior was just getting started. That evening, after a meeting with Jewish community leaders (who later said they wished Netanyahu would stop telling the Jews of France that they should all move to Israel), Netanyahu gave a speech at Paris’s main synagogue. The crowd greeted him with enthusiastic cheers and listened warmly as he told them that their true home was in Israel, which was waiting with open arms to embrace them.

But in a photograph of the capacity crowd in the synagogue sanctuary tweeted by foreign ministry spokesperson Ofir Gindelman, one can see only French flags, with not a single Israeli flag visible. This is a remarkable contrast with U.S. synagogues, where the pulpit is usually decorated with American and Israeli flags. But the piece de resistance came immediately after Netanyahu had finished delivering his speech, and had already turned his back on the crowd to leave. Before he could step down from the bimah, one of the Jewish leaders grabbed a microphone and launched into a spontaneous rendition of the French national anthem. Not Hatikvah, but the Marseillaise. Within seconds the entire audience had joined in, singing loudly and emotionally.

http://m.forward.com/blogs/forward-thinking/212583/how-bibi-tried-to-make-paris-all-about-him/#.VLQ_SlayHRs.facebook

[SickOfTheOnePct]

24. So long as he behaved himself

Netanyahu should have been every bit as welcome as any other world leader.

[Jesus Malverde]

26. I wonder if this contributed to the lack of US representation.

Seeing a high level American representative between Netanyahu and Abass would drive home the failure of all the wasted time and money invested in the "peace process".

For Netanyahu it's a simple matter of he is running for reelection and this was a smart political thing to do.

[fadedrose]

32. Maybe he wanted Obama as a prop

and if not a prop, than as an opponent who is not for Isreal because Obama doesn't bow to him. Netanyehu seems to confuse people who may not like or agree with him with not liking Israel.

I want peace for everybody there (don't we all) and don't care what religion they are. This war has been going on since I was a little kid (1947) and I am tired of it. Can't even imagine how the Israelis and the Palestinians who want peace feel after all these peace efforts that didn't work..

Heard somewhere on tv just yesterday about a group in Israel made of both Jews and Palestinians against the war. They all lost sons or daughters in the war and share their each others' pain.

[Blue_In_AK]

33. Netanyahu disgusts me.

[MrMickeysMom]

34. And, me as well, B_I_AK...

In fact, I would hope Netanyahu would have some respect for the wishes of French leaders.

I would no more wish him using this visit as a political opportunity than any other political figure. You strive to understand freedom and democracy or you don't.

Netanyahu is a war criminal far worse than any of the Bush Crime Family.