Israel’s peripatetic president, who seems to be traveling abroad almost every week, will be doing so again next week when he makes a lightning visit to France.
President Isaac Herzog, who has recently been to Greece, Cyprus and Turkey, has been invited by French President Emmanuel Macron to participate in the tenth-anniversary commemoration of the terrorist attack on a Jewish school in Toulouse. Three children and a teacher were shot dead by French jihadist Mohammed Mera, who went on a shooting spree and opened fire on the Ozar HaTorah school.
The rabbi and two of the children – Jonathan Sandler, 30, and his sons Arie, six, and Gavriel, three – were Israeli citizens. The third child, Myriam Monsonego, was the daughter of the school principal. Seven people were killed altogether as Mera sped around the city on his moped.
Herzog and his wife, Michal, will depart for Paris on Sunday and return on Monday. Following a working meeting with Macron in which the war in Ukraine will be high on the agenda, as will the increased aggression and nuclear capability of Iran, the Herzogs will join Macron and his wife, Brigette, on a flight to Toulouse.
The commemoration ceremony will be attended by former French presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande, as well as Jewish community leaders from across the country. Toulouse is a twin city with Netanya.
After returning to Paris, the Herzogs will dine with the Macrons at the Élysée Palace.