France yields to pressure, Hollande to address Knesset
French president announces he will address Israel parliament as originally planned after Speaker Edelstein boycotts visit
The initial decision to move the speech was met with outrage at the Knesset.
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"If the French president had canceled the speech altogether, that's his prerogative. But once he decided that the Knesset, which represents the people, is not respectable enough for him and that he'd rather do the speech outside, that's an insult to Israeli democracy and the Israeli people," a Knesset official said.
Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein Edelstein went as far as cancelling his own schedule appointment with Hollande and announced that the Knesset would boycott French delegates who would not be invited to formal functions until further notice.
The message was apparently heard loud and clear in Paris. On Sunday it was officially decided that Hollande will give his speech at the Knesset plenum. Edelstein said in response, "It is a great honor for Israel's Knesset to host the president of France, one of Israel's greatest friends."
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