Another Triumph for French Diplomacy

David Frankfurter writes from Jerusalem

On Sunday night, October 26, approximately 170 European parliamentarians arrived from Jordan to spend 36 hours in the Holy Land. They were invited to a dinner, which was peppered with a series of leading Israeli speakers. Perhaps the least well known of the panel was Mr. Arnold Roth, a former Australian, whose teenage daughter Malki had been tragically blown away two years ago as she was innocently eating a pizza.

Mr. Roth is a very engaging speaker, with a compelling personal story to tell. The cutlery stopped its action. The audience was riveted. He quickly gained the undivided attention of his audience. However, one notable exception was the newly arrived French ambassador to Israel. The honorable gentleman continued to munch on his food
...
After Mr. Roth left the podium, a French journalist, who had been sitting in close proximity to the ambassador, was overheard describing the actions of this senior member of the diplomatic corps - which had clearly embarrassed him. He expressed amazement that a suggestion to the ambassador to put down his cutlery, if only for a few minutes, was met with curt refusal. The journalist commented how all around were stunned, but the social pressure had no effect. The man carried on. He obviously did not realize how others may interpret this vis-á-vis France's true policy on terrorism, let alone Israel - or just basic human compassion.

I am fully confident that others will correctly interpret the ambassador's behavior vis-á-vis France's true policy on terrorism and Israel.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at October 29, 2003 06:19 PM