France–Israel relations

June 14, 1960, first meeting between David Ben-Gurion and Charles de Gaulle at Élysée Palace

French foreign minister Maurice Couve de Murville with Ben-Gurion

After France's liberation by Allied forces, David Ben-Gurion was confident that Charles de Gaulle would assist him in the founding of a Jewish state. On 12 January 1949 France recognized the existence of Israel and supported the decision for Israel to join the United Nations. In 1953 France started selling French weapons to Israel and became one of its closest allies and supporters.. France then shared with Israel a strategic interest against radical Arab nationalism, as it had to cope with nationalist sentiment in its Algerian territories. During the late 1950s France supplied Israel with the Mirage - Israel's most advanced aircraft to date and their first cutting edge combat aircraft.

In October 1957 an agreement was signed between France and Israel about the construction of the nuclear power plant in Israel, which was completed in 1963. Future Israeli President Shimon Peres was the politician who brokered the deal. In Michael Karpin's 2001 documentary A Bomb in the Basement, Abel Thomas, chief of political staff for France's defense minister at the time said Francis Perrin, head of the French Atomic Energy Commission, advised then-Prime Minister Guy Mollet that Israel should be provided with a nuclear bomb. According to the documentary, France provided Israel with a nuclear reactor and staff to set it up in Israel together with enriched uranium and the means to produce plutonium in exchange for support in the Suez War.[11][12]

The Suez Crisis of 1956 marked a watershed for Israeli-French relations.[13][14] Israel, France and the United Kingdom had conspired for control of the Suez Canal.[13][15] Israel initiated a surprise invasion of Egypt, followed by the United Kingdom and France. The aims were to regain Western control of the Suez Canal and to remove Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser from power,[16] as well as reopening the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping and stop Egyptian-sponsored fedayeen raids into Israel.[17] After the fighting had started, the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Nations forced Britain and France to withdraw. Israel wisely held out a few more months until the establishment of UNEF, which ensured freedom of navigation for Israel of the Straits of Tiran.

In the 1960s, with the expulsion of France from North Africa completed in 1962, the shared strategic interest against Arab nationalism dissipated, leading France to take a more conciliatory attitude toward the Arab nations and a correspondingly harsher tone toward Israel. However, work on the nuclear reactor continues with French help. France imposed an arms embargo on Israel before the beginning of the Six-Day War. After the embargo the Israeli Air Force was severely limited in long-term strategic planning and capability, as the embargo caused a shortage in spare parts for most of Israel's French fighter aircraft, which were highly advanced at the time. According to the New York Times, "this double game, however, ended when the Six-Day War in 1967 forced France to pick a side. In a shock to its Israeli allies, it chose the Arab states: despite aggressive moves by Egypt, France imposed a temporary arms embargo on the region — which mostly hurt Israel — and warned senior Israeli officials to avoid hostilities."[18]

The change of sides impaired as well the French-American relationship, as France was seen as an increasingly outdated and aggressive neocolonial power. The USA started to assume its current role as ally of Israel with the Six-Day War in 1967, while France decided to take sides with the Arab world to improve its relations after the independence of Algeria.[18]

In 1960 Ben-Gurion arrived in France for Israel's first official visit. Until the Six Day War, France was the main supplier of Israel's weapons. Just prior to the Six-Day War in June 1967, Charles de Gaulle's government imposed an arms embargo on the region, mostly affecting Israel.[1] In 1969, de Gaulle retired and Israel hoped that new president Georges Pompidou would bring about better relations, but Pompidou continued the weapons embargo, straining the relations once again.

In 1981 François Mitterrand was elected 21st President of the French Republic. Mitterrand was the first left-wing head of state since 1957 and was considered a friend of the Jewish people and a lover of the Bible. In 1982 he visited Israel and spoke in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. Both Israel and France deployed their armed forces to Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War.

Tzipi Livni and French FM Douste-Blazy, 2006

In 2006 French exports to Israel rose to €683 million ($1.06 billion). France is Israel's 11th greatest supplier of goods and represents Israel's ninth largest market. France's main export items are motor vehicles, plastics, organic chemicals, aeronautical and space engineering products, perfumes and cosmetics.[19] The second-largest percentage of tourists that visit Israel come from France.[20]

On February 13, 2008, Sarkozy spoke at the annual dinner of the French Jewish CRIF (Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France). The address was seen as a sign of newfound warmth between France's Élysée Palace and French Jewry, whose place in French society has been shaken in recent years following a surge in anti-Semitic attacks. "Israel can count on a new dynamic to its relationship with the European Union", said Sarkozy. "France will never compromise on Israel's security."

Israel welcomed Sarkozy's tough stance against the Iran-backed Hamas and Iran-backed Hezbollah. During the 2006 Lebanon War, France played a key role in Europe's efforts to get a quick ceasefire.[21]

On 30 June 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to dismiss Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman from his post, saying "You have to get rid of that man. You need to remove him from this position.”[22]

In January 2016 French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced that France would convene an international conference with the objective of enabling new Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. He said, however, that if these talks were unsuccessful, then France would recognize a Palestinian state.[23][24] Israeli officials rejected what was considered an ultimatum, while Israeli opposition leaders said the French threat to recognize Palestine was triggered by the current Israeli government's failed diplomacy.[25] France has yet to recognize Palestine.

French President Emmanuel Macron with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, 2022

As Turkish–French rift increased following French President Emmanuel Macron's criticism of Islamist terrorism, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had compared the treatment of Muslims in Europe similar to Nazi treatment on Jews in World War II. This statement was condemned in Israel, who pointed out the Turkish government's absence on voicing solidarity following the murder of French teacher Samuel Paty, as well as accusing Turkish government of hyping the situation and signal the differences between Nazi policy in World War II and French struggle against Islamic extremism.[26] Israel and France, along with Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Greece, Cyprus and Egypt, have also recently worked together against Turkey in various fronts, from the Kurdish question in Syria to the conflicts in Libya and Syria.[27][28][29]

In 2020, Macron gave a statement stating that anti-Zionism was a form of anti-Semitism, elaborating that it "doesn’t mean it becomes impossible to have disagreements, to criticize this or that action by the Israeli government, but negating its existence today is clearly a contemporary form of anti-Semitism".[30]

In October 2023, French President Macron condemned Hamas' actions during the Israel–Hamas war and expressed his support to Israel and its right to self-defense.[31][32]