Macron: ‘If US Doesn’t Present Peace Plan After Midterms, France Will’

• Macron: ‘If US Doesn’t Present Peace Plan After Midterms, France Will’
  by Itamar Eichner, https://www.ynetnews.com/, 24 Oct 2018
  French President Macron intends to press US President Trump to present his Middle East peace plan after the upcoming midterm elections. If Trump fails to deliver, Paris will present its own plan, according to the Foreign Ministry’s Political Director Alon Ushpiz.
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  If US President Donald Trump fails to present his peace plan in the weeks following the US November 6 midterm elections, French President Emmanuel Macron intends to present his own peace plan, the Foreign Ministry’s Political Director Alon Ushpiz said Monday in a secret discussion at the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
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  Ushpiz told MKs that the Foreign Ministry is aware of the French plan, and that “very soon after the (US midterm) elections, the French will demand Trump to present his plan or they would present theirs.”
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  According to Ushpiz, Jerusalem believes the Democrats will come out ahead in the midterm elections, something that would undoubtedly have a significant effect on Israel.
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  “A third of Congress members are going to be replaced, and it is unclear if they are all on our side. In fact, we will be starting from zero, and what we had since Trump had taken office is going to change—and we must prepare for that,” said Ushpiz.
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  Despite that, Ushpiz the State Department’s strategic goal is to keep Israel a bipartisan issue. “We’re making great efforts and investing a lot of energy in that,” he said.
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  When asked by one of the MKs about Trump’s comment that he could press Israel as he is pressing the Palestinians, Ushpiz said he was not familiar with such a statement, and that the Foreign Ministry does not know what the American peace plan entails.
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  Ushpiz warned that Israel was losing the support of Jewish communities in the US. “We are facing a challenge with the young Jewish generation, which is less identified with Israel,” he said.
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  He called on the MKs to meet with members of the Jewish communities in their travels to the US. “It doesn’t help if you meet only with the Evangelicals, they support us. But among the others, we’re not in a good situation,” Ushpiz added.
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