Jerusalem – Liberman: Paris Peace Conference ‘Modern Day Dreyfus Trial’

Jerusalem – The Middle East peace conference planned by the French for January 15 will be similar to the antisemitic trial of French Jewish artillery officer Alfred Dreyfus in 1894, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman told his Yisrael Beytenu faction on Monday.

Liberman said UN Security Council resolution 2334 was “awful, unnecessary, and, harms any chance to reach dialogue with the other side.” He said he was worried that such misguided international efforts would continue with the French conference.

He noted that the timing of the conference was problematic, coming five days before US-president elect Donald Trump is sworn in and three months before elections are being held in France, in which current president Francois Hollande is not running.

“It is not a peace conference but a tribunal against Israel that is intended to harm Israel and its good name,” he said. “It will not just be a trial against Israel but a modern Dreyfus trial. Look at all how France has been voting against us. We know the direction and the goal of the conference. It adds to the atmosphere in France against Jews.”

Liberman then recounted a series of recent antisemitic incidents in France, directing his next words to the Jewish community in France. “This is the time to tell French Jews: This is not your country or your land and it’s time to leave.”

Determining future priorities, the defense minister said what mattered now was reaching understandings with the Trump administration on Iran, the Palestinians, settlements, and Syria.

When asked by The Jerusalem Post whether he blamed the UN resolution on Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett’s insistence on advancing settlement legislation, he said it was “not connected to legislation” and “what is done is done.”

However, he said it was “wrong to focus on declarations and annexation.” He added that “the reason Israel has been limited from building in Judea and Samaria is not because of a lack of legislation but because of disagreements with American administrations on the extent of construction.”