File - In this Thursday, April 16, 2015, France's Ambassador to the U.S. Gerard Araud speaks during the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's annual Days of Remembrance Ceremony, in Emancipation Hall on Capitol Hill in Washington, to mark this year as the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps by the Allies during World War II. Israel's Foreign Ministry says it has summoned the French ambassador to protest remarks made by Araud, the former French envoy to Washington, in which he called Israel an "apartheid state." (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
JERUSALEM – Israel's Foreign Ministry says it has summoned the French ambassador to protest remarks made by the former French envoy to Washington, in which he called Israel an "apartheid state."
Former ambassador Gerard Araud on Tuesday replied to reports that Israel had summoned Ambassador Helene Le Gal. Araud defended his comments to The Atlantic magazine, saying on Twitter that he "was referring to the West Bank."
Araud said in an interview with The Atlantic earlier this month that Israel was "in fact already" an apartheid state given the status quo for West Bank Palestinians.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon responded to Araud on Twitter, saying his remarks were "offensive and uncalled for."
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