Israel security issues related visit to France

Last week, a delegation of 14 senior Israeli figures paid a discreet visit to Paris, including former top officials at Israeli security agencies, security experts, IDF officers, three Knesset members and one minister. Intelligence Minister Elazar Stern had actually joined the delegation at the last moment, but it was his presence specifically that was important for the French.

Israel advocacy group Elnet interacted with French decision-makers on strategic issues, and explain to them Israeli positions on issues such as the Iranian nuclear talks, Hezbollah in Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The topic of discussion was Iranian global terror activities and Hezbollah. Israel has been campaigning in recent years for the organization to be blacklisted in as many countries as possible.

Head of the Foreign Affairs Knesset subcommittee Emilie Moatti arrived Paris at the end of September. She met with many of the same people as the October delegation, both at the French Senate and at the National Assembly. She also traveled to Strasbourg, where she met representatives of the Council of Europe. In most of these meetings, the main issues were Iran, Hezbollah, Lebanon and the NSO affair.

National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata, who secretly met at the Elysee Palace some ten days ago with Emmanuel Bonne, the diplomatic adviser to President Emmanuel Macron. Again, the main issue was the NSO affair. Israel is reportedly proposing that all future sales of Israeli cyber-attack technologies will include a clause that prevents the buyer from tracking French phone numbers.