Israel this week stood in solidarity with France in the face of terror attacks this week, and condemned Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan’s over his calls to boycott French goods and his comparison of the situation of Muslims in France today to the situation of the Jews prior to World War II.
In a press release on Monday, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said: “Israel rejects the disgusting comparison made between the struggle against Islamist extremism in France, and Nazi policy and racism against Jews in Europe before World War II”.
The statement added: “The call for a total boycott of French products is no more than a cynical political exploitation of freedom of expression that incites hatred, and is similar to the hypocritical calls for boycotts of Israeli goods”.
Erdogan called for a boycott of French goods after French President Emmanuel Macron said his country would fight Islamic radicalism. He said Muslims are now “subjected to a lynch campaign similar to that against Jews in Europe before World War II” and that “European leaders should tell the French president to stop his hate campaign.”
Yesterday, a terrorist from Tunisia murdered three people in a knife attack at the Notre-Dame basilica in Nice. Earlier this month, a history teacher was beheaded in a Paris suburb by a Chechen terrorist after he displayed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a class on free speech.
Following yesterday’s terror attack, Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin said: “Our hearts are with the families of the victims of today’s despicable terror attack in a church in France and our prayers for the recovery of those injured. Terrorism, violence and hatred are modern plagues that blight our world. Notre coeur est avec la France”.
