Jerusalem: France’s Rendezvous with History
I dream of a France that is unafraid of history.
I dream of a France that still knows how to accomplish great deeds.
A France that does not see Jerusalem as a problem, but as an opportunity to be embraced.
For more than a century, our country has maintained a presence in Jerusalem.
It is not a stranger there. It is respected there.
It possesses one of the oldest and most prestigious diplomatic representations in the city.
The French Consulate General is not merely an administrative building.
It is part of France’s history in the Levant.
Standing opposite the walls of the Old City, just steps from the King David Hotel, it seems to contemplate the centuries with the quiet elegance that has long characterized French diplomacy.
It already has the stature of an embassy.
All that is missing is the name.
I dream of the day when the President of the Republic will walk through its gates not for a ceremonial visit, but to announce that France has chosen to establish its embassy there officially.
At a time when the President of the Republic regularly reminds us that the fight against antisemitism is one of the Republic’s essential causes, such a decision could also be understood as a clear response to the attempts at delegitimization, hatred, and denial that too often target Israel and, beyond it, the Jewish people of France and around the world.
It would send a powerful message that a democracy can never remain indifferent when the very existence of a state, the history of a people, or the security of a community become the object of systematic rejection.
A French embassy in Jerusalem could therefore convey a double message: France’s fidelity to its universal values and its unwavering rejection of every form of antisemitism.
It would be a diplomatic act, but also an act of remembrance and responsibility.
A gesture affirming that France confronts the hatreds of the past while embracing the courageous choices of the future.
Such a decision would also restore France to the center of the diplomatic stage by removing Israeli reservations toward its role.
Nor would it in any way prevent France from continuing to advocate for a just peace—one that guarantees both Israel’s security and the rights of the Palestinian people.
Our country is great enough to uphold both convictions at once.
France has never been at its strongest when it retreats. It is strongest when it opens new paths.
When it dares.
When it makes its unique voice heard.
Why should France, whose history is so intimately bound to Jerusalem, hesitate to give its presence there the status it deserves?
I dream of a morning when, before the walls of the Holy City, the French flag flies above an embassy that already exists in so many hearts.
I dream that such a gesture would be seen neither as a provocation nor as a concession, but as a calm affirmation of France’s diplomatic sovereignty.
I dream of a France that remains true to itself.
A France that does not sacrifice the future, but helps bring it into being.
A France that understands that symbols matter because they express what nations believe about themselves.
For Chateaubriand, who also served as France’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, “Jerusalem is the city of wonders.” It is therefore there that France belongs.
And if this dream seems bold today, let us remember that every great diplomatic decision began as an idea once considered impossible.
History rarely rewards those who wait.
It remembers those who dared.
