The government will question French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner during his visit to Israel this week. France's 2,000 soldiers in the United Nations Interim Forces (UNIFIL) is the third-largest, but recent statements by a Hizbullah cleric ridiculing UNIFIL support government concerns that the terrorist orgasnziaiton is increasingly ineffective. 

"Peace mission? You must be kidding," said the cleric in an interview with an Italian daily. "I will tell you what UNIFIL troops in southern Lebanon are. They are tourists, simple, faint-hearted and ignorant tourists."
 
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has said the French Foreign Minister will have to clarify his statements that France has "contacts" but not relations with the Hamas terrorist party.