ORANGE-ISRAEL/RICHARD-NETANYAHU Orange CEO reassures Netanyahu firm will deepen Israel ties

Record ID: 151020

  • Title: ORANGE-ISRAEL/RICHARD-NETANYAHU Orange CEO reassures Netanyahu firm will deepen Israel ties
  • Date: 12th June 2015
  • Summary: JERUSALEM (FILE) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE
  • Embargoed: 27th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jerusalem
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABFF6JD0M0VY4AGZHA6KLOF59W
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Orange chief executive Stephane Richard met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday (June 12) after remarks about ending a licensing deal sparked anger in the Jewish State.
    On a special visit to try to mend fences after the comments at a conference in Cairo, Richard met Netanyahu for talks at his private office, with the press kept away.
    "It's no secret that the remarks you made last week were widely seen as an attack on Israel and so your visit here is an opportunity to set the record straight. Israel is the one country in the Middle East that guarantees full civic rights. It's the one county in the Middle East where everyone is protected under the law equally. We seek a genuine and secure peace with our Palestinian neighbours, but that can only be achieved through direct negotiations between the parties without preconditions. It will not be achieved through boycotts and through threats of boycotts," Netanyahu told the visiting CEO after the meeting.
    Richard told Netanyahu he profoundly regretted the remarks he made last week which he said were misinterpreted to make it sound as if he supported a boycott of Israel.
    He said the comments attributed to him were taken out of context, adding that Orange was fully committed to business in Israel and had no interest in engaging in politics.
    "It's an honor to meet with you this morning and it give me also an opportunity to clear up the confusion that was created after those statements. I regret deeply this controversy and I want to make it totally clear that Orange as a company has never supported and will never support any kind of boycott against Israel. We are doing business, we are doing communication, we are here to connect people, certainly not to participate in any kind of boycott," said the 53-year-old executive, who has been pilloried in Israel.
    "Israel is a fantastic place to be in the digital industry and of course our will is to strengthen and to keep on investing here," he added, speaking of investments that Orange has made in Israeli start-ups.
    In Cairo, Richard was quoted as saying he would terminate a licensing agreement that Orange has with Israel's Partner Communications "tomorrow morning" if the contracts allowed. Partner pays a fee to use Orange's brand in Israel.
    The remark was interpreted as Richard supporting an economic boycott of Israel, along the lines of that advocated by the BDS movement - Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions - a pro-Palestinian campaign aimed at pressuring Israel to withdraw from occupied Arab territories by hurting it economically.
    Israel protested Richard's remarks at the highest level, including to the French government, which owns 25 percent of Orange. Netanyahu has called the remarks part of an anti-Semitic campaign to de-legitimise Israel.
    Richard has said he had been speaking of ending a licensing deal in Israel on purely business grounds. Orange has spoken in the past of wanting to take back full control of its brand.
    Partner operates under the Orange brand name through a licensing deal that is believed to expire in 10 years but has no other connection to Orange.
    Netanyahu accuses the Palestinians of encouraging diplomatic pressure on Israel rather than negotiating with it directly, and says that foreign censure of the country unfairly overlooks its democratic credentials that are rare in the region.
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