Visiting Israel for Holocaust memorial events this week, President Emmanuel Macron of France engaged in some rude showmanship.
It happened as Macron and his joint French Security Group for the President of the Republic and Israeli Shin Bet (protective agencies equivalent to the U.S. Secret Service) security detail entered Jerusalem’s Church of St. Anne. Regarded as French territory, the church is protected by Israeli security forces. But Macron blew a gasket.
Now, it would be one thing if Macron had a legitimate gripe here. But there’s very little evidence to suggest that. An Israeli police spokesman stated, “The French president requested that the guidelines be respected, and based on the terms agreed upon ahead of time, an Israeli guard and a policeman escorted the president and his delegation inside. When the president and the delegation finished the visit, he apologized about the incident and shook hands with the security personnel.”
This is a pretty stark statement, suggestive of Israel’s confidence that Macron was the one in error. Considering the advance work that goes into any high-level dignitary visit to any Israeli site, the police assertion is credible. Moreover, the GSPR, Shin Bet, and Israeli uniformed police would have had one simple concern during Macron’s visit — protecting him. Those agencies are neither thugs like the Turkish Presidential Guard Regiment, nor pageant showmen like Kim Jong Un’s bodyguards. They are there to protect the person of the French president, end of story.
Historical context also points to the illegitimacy of Macron’s complaint.
After all, his spectacle is very similar to then-French President Jacques Chirac’s 1996 rant at Israeli officers. Chirac gained favorable domestic press for that outburst, and Macron likely assumed he could earn the same. The sad truth is that he may be right: With many French citizens sour on Israel in general, videos like these make for good coverage back home.
That doesn’t make the silliness any more excusable, however. Quite the contrary.
The GSPR and Shin Bet are manned by hardworking, highly trained personnel willing to give their lives for politicians they may despise. The least they deserve is a little courtesy.
