French envoy to UK: Israel ("that shitty little country" ) threatens world
peace

By Douglas Davis The Jerusalem Post 20 December

LONDON (December 20) - The diplomatic career of French Ambassador to Britain
Daniel Bernard was said to be in jeopardy yesterday, after he was quoted as
having referred to Israel as "that shitty little country" which threatens
world peace.

The undiplomatic remarks were made at a private gathering at the London home
of Lord Black of Crossharbour, chairman of The Jerusalem Post's parent
company Hollinger Inc. They were referred to - anonymously - in a column
published in the Daily Telegraph on Monday by Black's wife, Barbara Amiel.

In her column, which laments that anti-Semitism has become a respectable
sentiment at London dinner tables, Amiel noted the ambassador of a major
European Union country "politely told a gathering at my home that the
current troubles in the world were all because of 'that shitty little
country Israel.' "

"Why," she quoted him as saying, "should the world be in danger of World War
III because of those people?"

Amiel did not name Bernard, a former French government spokesman said to be
a close confidant of French President Jacques Chirac, but he was quickly
unmasked by the media as the unnamed "ambassador of a major European
country" and his career was said to be "under threat."

Bernard's spokesman Yves Charpentier said Bernard cannot remember the
reference.

Charpentier said Bernard was shocked to see media reports of a private
dinner conversation he had with Black that attributed the remark to him and
depicted him as anti-Semitic.

"He doesn't remember saying that," Charpentier told Reuters.

Asked if Bernard would apologize, Charpentier said: "He has no intention of
apologizing. He doesn't feel there is any need for him to do so."

Charpentier said Bernard had discussed a number of issues with Black at the
party, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"In the course of that discussion, the ambassador referred to 'little
Israel,' in the sense that it is geographically small," Charpentier said.

"He was saying that the problem was incredibly limited geographically but
that nevertheless the scale of the consequences is huge and the
repercussions around the world are tremendous."

Bernard, who became ambassador to Britain in 1998, was "extremely upset at
being considered as anti-Israel or even worse anti-Semitic," he said.

Charpentier added it is "sheer nonsense" that "a frank and open discussion
in private" had been reported in the press. "It's a private dinner... and
then all of a sudden you find it in the media."

An official at the Board of Deputies of British Jews expressed "grave
concern" at Bernard's comments, "particularly as the country he is talking
about is one his government claims is our staunch friend."

A senior diplomatic source here declined to speculate on the effect these
remarks could have on Bernard's career, but told The Jerusalem Post "an
ambassador who speaks in such terms is not diplomatic and there are
implications to be drawn from that."

He also noted the plethora of negative images of Israel in the media "has
made it more acceptable to be hostile to Israel" and such images might be
serving as the catalyst "for allowing people to be more open now about
anti-Semitism."

In her column, Amiel described how the unnamed doyenne of London's political
salon scene "made a remark to the effect that she couldn't stand Jews and
everything happening to them was their own fault." When this comment was
greeted with shocked silence, wrote Amiel, the hostess chided her guests for
their presumed hypocrisy: "Oh come on," she was quoted as saying. "You all
feel like that."

"Once," noted Amiel, "that remark would have cost her license as a serious
political hostess, but clearly she believes the zeitgeist is blowing her
way."

(News agencies contributed to this report.)