ISTANBUL

French President Emmanuel Macron rejected criticism from US Ambassador to France Charles Kushner, calling his remarks “unacceptable” and insisting that France’s opposition to Israeli policies in Gaza cannot be equated with antisemitism, CBS news reported on Sunday.

In an interview with CBS News’ Face the Nation, Macron said Kushner had overstepped diplomatic norms by publicly accusing him of failing to combat antisemitism in France and linking the issue to his government’s recognition of Palestinian statehood.

“This is unacceptable,” Macron said. “If you are a diplomat, you have to follow the rule of diplomacy … The (American) taxpayer money is not properly used to finance this kind of statement.”

France’s Foreign Ministry formally summoned Kushner last month, citing the 1961 Vienna Convention’s prohibition on interfering in another state’s internal affairs.

The row comes as Macron prepares to announce France’s recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly on Monday.

Macron said Israel’s nearly two-year war has failed to eliminate Hamas and instead fueled its recruitment.

“Recognizing the Palestinian state today is the only way to provide a political solution to a situation which has to stop,” he said.

Netanyahu has accused Macron of “fueling antisemitism” with the recognition move.

Macron rejected notions that his criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government endangered French Jews.

“Disagreeing with Israeli policies doesn’t make me antisemitic,” he said, adding that he was the first French president to adopt the international definition equating antisemitism with anti-Zionism.

Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has been carrying out a genocide in Gaza which has so far killed over 65,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

The onslaught has displaced hundreds of thousands alongside a blockade on humanitarian aid that has claimed the lives of at least 442 Palestinians, including 147 children.