page_title: France–Israel relations
section_title: 2000s
hierarchical_section_title: France–Israel relations / History / 2000s
caption_attribution_description: French minsiter of Foreign Affairs and his colleage Livni of Israel
context_page_description: After the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948 and in the early 1950s, France and Israel maintained close political and military ties. France was Israel's main weapons supplier until its withdrawal from Algeria in 1962. Three days before the outbreak of the Six-Day War in 1967, Charles de Gaulle's government imposed an arms embargo on the region, mostly affecting Israel.
  Under François Mitterrand in the early 1980s, French–Israeli relations improved greatly. Mitterrand was the first French president to visit Israel while in office. After Jacques Chirac was elected president in 1995, relations declined due to his support of Yasser Arafat during the first stages of the Second Intifada. After the election of Nicolas Sarkozy in May 2007, France's new leader said that he would refuse to greet any world leader who does not recognize Israel's right to exist.
  France has an embassy in Tel Aviv and a consulate-general in Jerusalem. Israel has an embassy in Paris and a consulate-general in Marseille.
context_section_description: In 2006 French exports to Israel rose to €683 million ($1.06 billion). France is Israel's 11th greatest supplier of goods and represents Israel's ninth largest market. France's main export items are motor vehicles, plastics, organic chemicals, aeronautical and space engineering products, perfumes and cosmetics. The second-largest percentage of tourists that visit Israel come from France.
  On February 13, 2008, Sarkozy spoke at the annual dinner of the French Jewish CRIF (Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France). The address was seen as a sign of newfound warmth between France's Élysée Palace and French Jewry, whose place in French society has been shaken in recent years following a surge in anti-Semitic attacks. "Israel can count on a new dynamic to its relationship with the European Union", said Sarkozy. "France will never compromise on Israel's security."
  Israel welcomed Sarkozy's tough stance against the Iran-backed Hamas and Iran-backed Hezbollah. During the 2006 Lebanon War, France played a key role in Europe's efforts to get a quick ceasefire.
  On 30 June 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to dismiss Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman from his post, saying "You have to get rid of that man. You need to remove him from this position.”
  In January 2016 French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced that France would convene an international conference with the objective of enabling new Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. He said, however, that if these talks were unsuccessful, then France  would recognize a Palestinian state. Israeli officials rejected what was considered an ultimatum, while Israeli opposition leaders said the French threat to recognize Palestine was triggered by the current Israeli government’s failed diplomacy. France has yet to recognize Palestine.
caption: Tzipi Livni and French FM Douste-Blazy, 2006
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