Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a storm of criticism following his “embarrassing” behavior at Sunday’s mass unity rally in Paris along with his calls for members of the French Jewish community to emigrate to Israel following last week’s deadly attack on a kosher supermarket.
The Telegraph reports: The Israeli prime minister was seen elbowing his way to the front of the parade of world leaders and also unsuccessfully tried to jump to the head of queue waiting for a bus that was to take guests to the starting point.
After he failed to get on the first bus, a nervous-looking Mr Netanyahu – accompanied by what appeared to be an Israeli security team – was shown on French video footage waiting for the next one.
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During the march, Mr Netanyahu waved to the crowd in response to a pro-Israel shout from a woman spectator, a gesture some Israeli commentators deemed to be at odds with the sombre mood.
As if this was not enough, the situation was further compounded by reports that the Israeli leader attended the event in apparent defiance of a request to stay away from the French president Francois Hollande who said his presence there would be ‘divisive’.
Niamh Harris