Jerusalem waste collection at centre of latest spat between France and Israel
Jerusalem’s deputy mayor has urged municipality workers to deny waste collections and lawn mowing services to the French consulate for Palestinians, in the latest instance of simmering tensions between France and Israel.
On Tuesday, far-right deputy mayor Aryeh King posted a letter on X which he had sent to the Jerusalem municipality’s sanitation department.
"In view of the treacherous and anti-Israel conduct of Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frederic Macron, the president of France who passed resolutions in his government whose purpose is to harm the state of Israel and Israeli industry, I ask you to order the employees… to immediately stop the service of removing the garbage from the French Consulate building," the letter stated.
The consulate is situated on Paul Emile Botta Street, in the Yemin Moshe neighbourhood just outside occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City.
"I would like you to make sure that the municipal workers who clean Paul Emile Botta Street refrain from… collecting waste, as well as trimming the grass on the pavement in front of the consulate."
It came days after French authorities banned Israeli defence companies from exhibiting at Eurosatory, the world’s largest defence and security exhibition, in Paris. The ban has since been overturned.
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