French president Emmanuel Macron told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday that France bears responsibility for mass arrests of Jews in Paris during World War II.
"It was indeed France that organized this," Macron said, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the event.
Macron condemned France's participation as well as those who denied it or blamed the Germans for the roundup of 13,000 Jews sent to Nazi death camps from the Velodrome d'Hiver, an indoor cycle track, in 1942.
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Macron Calls for Return to Negotiations on Two-state Solution in Middle East
Netanyahu's presence was protested by groups including the Union of French Jews for Peace (UJFP) who accuse the Israeli government of "usurping the memory of the victims of Nazism to make people believe that Israel represents all the world's Jews."
Speaking from the Velodrome, Macron also reiterated France's support of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, for which negotiations have been frozen for three years.
Macron also affirmed this support to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas when he met with him on Wednesday, while also expressing France's opposition to Israeli settlements.