Sarkozy Asked Jews To Pressure Israel on Palestinians
Former French president Nicolas Sarzkozy told a Jewish crowd in Geneva that Israel should be pressured to make concessions to the Palestinians.
In his Jan. 24 address in the Swiss city, Sarkozy told a dinner organized by the Keren Hayesod-United Israel Appeal that Israel’s government has “enclosed” the Jewish state behind “the ramparts of Jericho,” according to a Jan. 30 report in Le Nouvel Observateur.
Sarkozy – who reportedly arrived suffering from a cold, a bad temper and a bad shave – ended his address after 45 minutes and left his 450-odd listeners unceremoniously, the report said.
The newsweekly reported conflicting accounts regarding Sarkozy’s fee and who had paid it. It said, unattributed, that he Lily Safra, the Monaco-based philantrhopist, paid him 150,000 Euros ($204,000), but also quoted sources close to Sarkozy as disputing that sum.
Joe Tugendhaft, the president of Keren Hayesod in the French-speaking parts of Switzerland, said Lily Safra was not involved, claining that five philantrhopists had paid Sarkozy for his appearance.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Fast Forward What’s next for suspended student who posted ‘F— the Jews’ video? An alt-right media tour
-
Fast Forward ‘New Jersey tough’: Gov. Phil Murphy on released Hamas hostage Edan Alexander, a Tenafly native
-
Fast Forward Hamas releases Edan Alexander, last living American hostage, to Red Cross
-
Fast Forward In Tenafly, NJ, a crowd awaits the release of local son Edan Alexander from Hamas captivity
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 2
Opinion It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump
- 3
Culture Is Pope Leo Jewish? Ask his distant cousins — like me
- 4
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
In Case You Missed It
-
News In Edan Alexander’s hometown in New Jersey, months of fear and anguish give way to joy and relief
-
Fast Forward What’s next for suspended student who posted ‘F— the Jews’ video? An alt-right media tour
-
Opinion Despite Netanyahu, Edan Alexander is finally free
-
Opinion A judge just released another pro-Palestinian activist. Here’s why that’s good for the Jews
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.