Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

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.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

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..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

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 credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link 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.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.