France’s foreign minister on Friday said Paris was “firmly opposed” to any boycott of Israel as a row rages over telecom group Orange’s decision to withdraw its brand from Israel.

“Although it is for the president of the Orange group to determine the commercial strategy of the company, France is firmly opposed to a boycott of Israel,” Laurent Fabius said in a statement.

“Also, France and the European Union have a consistent policy on settlement-building that is known to all,” added Fabius.

Orange, which is partly controlled by the French government, has insisted that its decision to end its brand-licensing agreement with Partner, Israel’s second largest mobile operator, was not politically motivated.

But the decision to axe ties has unleashed a firestorm of criticism, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying the company’s decision was “miserable.”

“I call on the French government to publicly renounce the miserable remarks and the miserable action of a company that is under its partial ownership,” Netanyahu said after Orange’s announcement on Thursday.

‘We love Israel’

“I call on our friends to unconditionally declare – in a loud and clear voice – that they oppose any kind of boycott of the state of the Jews,” he added.

The company’s chairman and chief executive Stephane Richard said an international campaign to boycott Israel in response to its decades-old occupation of the Palestinian territories had played no part in the decision.

“This has nothing to do with Israel, we love Israel, we are in Israel, in the enterprise market, we invest money in innovation in Israel, we are a friend of Israel, so this has absolutely nothing to do with any kind of political debate, in which I don’t want to be,” Richard told Israel’s Yediot Aharonot newspaper.

“It is a purely commercial point regarding the use of our brand by the company (Partner Communications) under a licence agreement, we don’t want to do that,” he said.

“I was not aware there is a kind of international campaign regarding this. I am very sorry about that.”

Richard had triggered an uproar on Wednesday when he told reporters in Cairo he was ready to “withdraw from Israel” as soon as “tomorrow morning… but without exposing Orange to huge risks” and potential compensation claims from Partner.

Richard’s Cairo comments followed the publication last month of a report accusing Orange of indirectly supporting Israeli settlements in the occupied territories through its relationship with Partner.

The report by five mainly French NGOs and two trade unions, urged Orange to cut business ties and publicly declare its desire to avoid contributing to the economic viability of the settlements, which are regarded as illegal under international law. MAANNEWS