French Settlers Get Election Letters Addressed To Palestinian Territories
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.
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
— Alyssa Katz, editor-in-chief
