Crif in action : CRIF met with Jean-Marc Ayrault, French minister of Foreign affairs, on the eve of his departure for Israel

Roger Cukierman repeated his deep disappointment of the French vote at Unesco denying the millennial Jewish presence in Jerusalem. He expressed to the Minister the deep wound felt by French Jews due to this French vote, controversially of the votes of all other Western powers. The minister restated the comments he made at the National Assembly, namely, that France's position had not changed. He also assured CRIF that France would intervene at the next Executive Board of Unesco to reaffirm the unambiguous position of France. To be followed.

The Minister presented the revival of the peace process desired by France in order to stop the deterioration of relations between Israelis and Palestinians. He developed the objectives sought by France and its partners in this new initiative. Other topics were discussed during this long meeting included: the issue of education and incitement to hatred in Palestinian schools, largely financed by the European Union, the position of Europe vis-à-vis Turkey and especially the problem of refugees and the open border project, the issue of the Egyptian Jewish community whose access to personal archives requested by the Jews of Egyptian origin and so far refused by the authorities, the French-Israeli year in France coming in 2018, and the issue of relations between Qatar and France.

Participating in the delegation of CRIF were the President of Crif Roger Cukierman, Francis Kalifat, Yonathan Arfi and Gerard Unger, vice presidents, and Robert Ejnes, Executive Director. Crif is the umbrella organization of French Jewish institutions.