Image by Getty Images

The chairman of the French telecom company Orange reversed his comments about leaving Israel, saying the company “is in Israel to stay.”

Stephane Richard in an interview Saturday with the French news agency AFP denied that his company’s decision to end a brand-licensing agreement with the Israeli firm Partner was a message that it was seeking to withdraw from Israel.

Richard said that he “sincerely” regretted the “controversy,” according to AFP.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

A day earlier, Richard had told the Israeli news website Ynet that he did not mean to say that Orange was pulling out of Israel for political reasons.

“We are friends of Israel, it has nothing do with Israel, we love Israel,” he reportedly said. “My words were misunderstood; I spoke of a purely business issue.”

Richard said earlier in the week in Cairo that his company would end its Israeli presence if it were not contractually bound to Partner. A day later the company announced that it would seek to cancel a recently signed 10-year arrangement with Partner in Israel. Orange has not directly reached out to Partner since Richard’s Cairo remarks, the company said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was scheduled to speak on Sunday with French President Francois Hollande about the incident and the implications for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. France owns a 25 percent stake in Orange.

Also Sunday, Netanyahu told his Foreign Ministry to let Richard know that if he wants to set the record straight, he should travel to Israel to speak directly to Netanyahu, not meet with an Israeli diplomat in France, according to AFP.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Friday that France opposes boycotts, but would not intervene in the dispute.

Partner owner Haim Saban, an Egyptian-born Hollywood entertainment tycoon, on Saturday called the Orange claim that it was not trying to pull out of Israel for political reasons a “blatant lie.” Saban told Israel’s Channel 2 in an interview Saturday night that he would fight back so hard that other companies considering a boycott of Israel will “think twice whether they want to take on Israel or not.”

“Trust me,” Saban said, “this is just the beginning.”

Orange maintains two subsidiaries in Israel: Orange Business Services and Viaccess-Orca, a specialist in Internet television.

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.

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

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.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount