Charles Kushner Calls Out French Antisemitism: Macron Throws a Tantrum

Antisemitism is exploding in France. Jews are being beaten in the streets, synagogues are vandalized, Jewish businesses are attacked, Holocaust memorials are desecrated, and yet the French government continues to pretend that it is “fully mobilized” against Jew-hatred. Fully mobilized? What planet is Emmanuel Macron living on?

This past week, Ambassador Charles Kushner, one of America’s most respected Jewish leaders and a close friend of some 25 years, had the courage to do what so few diplomats ever dare: tell the truth. On the 81st anniversary of the liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation, he wrote a searing letter to President Macron warning that antisemitism in France has reached intolerable levels, and that the French government’s inaction has placed Jews in mortal danger.

For that, France did not thank him. It did not listen to him. It did not even open its eyes. Instead, like a petulant child, Macron summoned Ambassador Kushner to his foreign ministry for a scolding — as if speaking the truth about Jew-hatred is an “interference” in French affairs. What arrogance. What weakness. What shame. And how utterly idiotic on the part of Macron. Kushner’s son Jared is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka.

Macron’s Temper Tantrum

France’s foreign ministry declared Kushner’s words “unacceptable.” They accused him of violating international law. They claimed he insulted the “quality of the transatlantic partnership.” What nonsense. These are the tantrums of a leader embarrassed by the truth. Macron would rather punish the messenger than confront the Jew-hatred festering in his streets.

The French president has become hypersensitive to criticism — first lashing out at Benjamin Netanyahu when the Israeli Prime Minister rightly accused him of emboldening antisemites by flirting with recognition of a Palestinian state, and now lashing out at Charles Kushner. Macron is behaving not like a statesman, but like a sulky child who cannot bear to hear that he has failed his Jewish citizens.

But Macron’s childishness comes at a terrible cost. French Jews are once again on the front line of Europe’s oldest hatred. Macron can posture about diplomacy all he wants, but history will remember him for what he is: a president who fiddled while antisemitism burned through his country.

France’s Shameful Record

Let us be clear: France’s antisemitism problem is not new. The country’s history is scarred by betrayal of its Jews — from the Dreyfus affair, to Vichy collaboration with Hitler, to the deportation of more than 75,000 French Jews to their deaths in Auschwitz by French, and not German, police.

And yet, one would think that with such a history of disgrace, France would today lead the world in stamping out antisemitism. Instead, it is the opposite.

Before October 7th, France already had one of the highest rates of antisemitic incidents in Europe. After Hamas’s barbaric massacre of 1,200 Israelis, it has skyrocketed. Macron himself admitted in late 2023 that antisemitism was “exploding” — and yet what has he done? What concrete actions has he taken? French synagogues are still being attacked. Just last month, a synagogue in La Grande Motte was set on fire by a terrorist. Holocaust memorials have been desecrated with swastikas. Jewish schoolchildren live in fear.

Surveys show that nearly half of French youth have never heard of the Holocaust. Ignorance reigns, and hatred festers. In French schools, generations are being raised with no sense of responsibility for the crimes committed on French soil. It is a national disgrace.

And now Macron dares to tell Charles Kushner — a child of Holocaust survivors and a man who has devoted his life to Jewish causes, who comes from a family that has been at the heart of America’s defense of Israel, who is tied by blood to the most pro-Israel administration in American history — that his concerns are “unacceptable.” No, President Macron. What is unacceptable is your refusal to defend your Jewish citizens.

Charles Kushner’s Courage

Charles Kushner did what few ambassadors have the guts to do. He spoke with moral clarity. He wrote:

“I write out of deep concern over the dramatic rise of antisemitism in France and the lack of sufficient action by your government to confront it. In France, not a day passes without Jews assaulted in the street, synagogues or schools defaced, or Jewish-owned businesses vandalized.”

That is the truth. That is not “interference in French affairs.” That is the voice of conscience.

Kushner was right to remind Macron that this August marked the 81st anniversary of the liberation of Paris — when Allied forces, at the cost of blood and sacrifice, ended the deportations of Jews from French soil. France owes its freedom to those American and British soldiers who died fighting antisemitic tyranny. And yet, eight decades later, the same old hatred is back, tolerated, excused, and even encouraged by weak leaders.

Kushner was right to call out Macron’s plan to recognize a Palestinian state as reckless appeasement. Such a move would not bring peace; it would embolden Hamas, fuel antisemitism, and endanger Jewish life in France. Netanyahu said it, and Kushner echoed it: anti-Zionism is antisemitism, plain and simple. Macron refuses to understand that — or worse, he does understand, but prefers pandering to extremists.

Kushner is not just any diplomat. He is one of America’s most respected Jewish leaders, a man deeply committed to the survival of Israel and the Jewish people. He is also family to President Donald Trump, who remains the strongest ally Israel has ever had in the White House. For Macron to publicly humiliate him is to humiliate American Jewry itself. That will not be forgotten. Macron will pay a steep price for that arrogance, not only in Washington but in history’s judgment.

Macron’s Appeasement

When Prime Minister Netanyahu accused Macron of fueling antisemitism by recognizing a Palestinian state, the Elysee called his remarks “abject.” Abject? No, what is abject is Macron’s cowardice. What is abject is pretending that recognizing a Palestinian state in the wake of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust is anything other than appeasement of terrorists.

France has always had a soft spot for appeasement. From Neville Chamberlain’s betrayal at Munich to Vichy’s collaboration with Hitler, Europe’s instinct has been to surrender to tyranny rather than resist it. Macron continues this tradition. Instead of standing firm with Israel and the Jewish people, he chooses to indulge fantasies of “peace processes” that only embolden Hamas and Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, Jewish blood runs in the streets of Paris, Lyon, and Marseille. Macron’s policies have consequences. His refusal to act decisively is costing Jewish lives. His hypocrisy is laid bare every time another Jewish child is bullied in a classroom, another synagogue is torched, another Holocaust memorial is defaced.

The Price of Silence

The Jewish people have seen this movie before. The silence of governments in the face of Jew-hatred is what allowed Auschwitz to happen. The cowardice of French leaders is what enabled the deportation of tens of thousands of French Jews.

Charles Kushner refuses to be silent. For that, Macron tries to punish him. But Macron’s little games at the Quai d’Orsay will not silence the truth. Kushner’s words ring out with more power now than ever.

The question is not whether France is embarrassed. The question is whether French Jews will survive. France has the largest Jewish population in Europe — half a million souls. They are in peril. Many are already fleeing, emigrating to Israel, to America, to anywhere they can find safety. Is this the France Macron wants remembered — the France that drove its Jews away again, 80 years after the Holocaust?

A Call to Action

France has a choice. It can stop lashing out at those who tell the truth, and instead confront the cancer of antisemitism in its society. It can begin by:

• Arresting and prosecuting those who attack Jews with the full force of the law.
• Protecting synagogues, schools, and Jewish neighborhoods with real security.
• Reforming its education system so that every French child learns the history of the Holocaust and the lessons of Vichy betrayal.
• Ending its appeasement of Hamas and its flirtation with Palestinian statehood until the terror infrastructure is dismantled and Jew-hatred is eradicated.

These are not radical demands. They are the minimum requirements of a civilized nation.

Macron’s Legacy

History will not be kind to Emmanuel Macron. It will remember that when Jewish blood ran in his streets, he chose to attack those who spoke the truth instead of attacking the antisemites. It will remember that on the anniversary of Paris’s liberation from Nazi tyranny, he summoned an American ambassador for daring to remind him of France’s moral obligations.

And history will remember that Charles Kushner stood tall. He refused to be intimidated. He refused to be silent. He honored the memory of those who died for France’s freedom by demanding that France live up to that sacrifice.

That is leadership. That is courage. That is what the Jewish people deserve.