Israel Protests France’s Decision to Rescind Anti-boycott Measure

Mordechai Gazit, Israel’s Ambassador to France, has formally protested in Paris against the French government’s decision to exclude Arab-imposed restrictions on trade with Israel from the anti-boycott law passed recently by the French Parliament. Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan revealed this step yesterday to the Knesset when he called the French move “a hostile act.” (See separate story from France.)

“We cannot but consider this a hostile act against Israel,” Dayan declared, “and we expect the French government to act without delay to correct it.” But the Foreign Minister told the Knesset to think “seven times” before it decided on taking measures against France that “will only be self-defeating and self-humiliating.”

Responding to three urgent motions on the French action, Dayan said he had doubts about which aspects of the problem should be discussed publicly. He spoke in support of “quiet diplomacy” when several MKs suggested that world Jewry should be mobilized in an anti-France boycott. The Knesset agreed to Dayan’s suggestion to refer the matter to the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee.