Emmanuel Macron pushed back on Tuesday against claims by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the French president was abetting antisemitism by planning to recognize a Palestinian state.

“Protecting France’s Jewish citizens from the rise in anti-Semitism has been an absolute priority of mine from day one,” Macron wrote in a letter to Netanyahu published in the French daily Le Monde. “It must not be the subject of manipulation amid the politicization of a conflict that is not France’s but that is affecting its national cohesion and the security of its citizens.”

Relations between the two leaders have spiraled lower over the past several months, as Macron in July announced France would recognize a Palestinian state at a United Nations gathering in New York next month. He has enco

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