Tel Aviv [Israel], August 20 : A diplomatic row has broken out between Israel and France after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused French President Emmanuel Macron of fuelling "the anti-Semitic fire" in France by planning to recognise Palestinian statehood, Al Jazeera reported.
The French president's office swiftly hit back at Netanyahu on Tuesday, calling his allegations "abject" and "erroneous", and promising that they "will not go unanswered".
"This is a time for seriousness and responsibility, not for conflation and manipulation," the French presidency said, adding that France "protects and will always protect its Jewish citizens". "Violence against the [French] Jewish community is intolerable," it said, according to Al Jazeera.
Reacting to Netanyahu's letter, French deputy minister for European affairs Benjamin Haddad said that France had "no lessons to learn in the fight against anti-Semitism". The issue, "which is poisoning our European societies", must not be "exploited", Haddad said, Al Jazeera reported.
In his letter, Netanyahu told Macron: "Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on this antisemitic fire. It is not diplomacy, it is appeasement. It rewards Hamas terror, hardens Hamas's refusal to free the hostages, emboldens those who menace French Jews and encourages the Jew-hatred now stalking your streets."
Netanyahu's criticism also extended to Australia, as he accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of being "a weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia's Jews". The Albanese government recently announced plans to recognise Palestinian statehood and cancelled the visa of Israeli politician Simcha Rothman, whose ultranationalist party is part of Netanyahu's governing coalition, Al Jazeera reported.
Hours later, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he had revoked the visas of Australia's representatives to the Palestinian Authority. "I also instructed the Israeli Embassy in Canberra to carefully examine any official Australian visa application for entry to Israel," Saar said.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong described Israel's revocation of visas for its diplomats as an "unjustified reaction", adding that Netanyahu's government was "isolating Israel and undermining international efforts towards peace and a two-state solution".
Last week, Albanese said Netanyahu was "in denial" about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs spokesman Jens Laerke said Israel had banned shelter items, including tents, from entering Gaza for about five months, leaving more than 700,000 displaced people without adequate shelter.
UN Human Rights Office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan warned that Israel's military takeover of Gaza City risked "mass displacement and more and more killings and more misery," adding that "hundreds of thousands" of Palestinians were being ordered to move south to al-Mawasi, an area Israel had designated a "safe zone" but continues to bomb.