JERUSALEM (JTA) — French citizens living in the West Bank received official letters from the French Foreign Ministry addressed to the Palestinian territories.
The settlement residents were among thousands of French people in Israel who received the letters urging them to vote in Sunday’s election in France. Israel’s Channel 2 reported that some letter recipients decided not to vote due because their residence on the letter was designated as Palestinian territories and not Israel.
French Jewish lawmaker Meyer Habib, who represents French citizens living in Israel, sent a letter of complaint to French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday.
“Beyond the political and legal debate, the French Foreign Ministry’s deliberate choice to present the Israeli settlements under the name ‘Palestinian territories’ is a provocation, humiliating the French citizens living in Israel,” Habib said in the letter. “In order to be effective, our foreign policy must be realistic.”
Habib added that a realistic foreign policy would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and recognize that radical Islam is the common enemy.
He also sent the letter to the front-running presidential candidate, Emmanuel Macron, who is facing off against far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.
Also Wednesday, Likud party lawmaker Oren Hazan, whose alleged use of drugs while running a casino in Bulgaria has spurred calls for his ouster from the Knesset, endorsed Le Pen in a post on Twitter, despite an Israeli government position of avoiding her National Front party.
