Shalom and Fabius
Shalom and FabiusMoshe Binyamin

Interior Minister Silvan Shalom met Wednesday with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in Paris, where Shalom is visiting with government officials and members of the Jewish community.

The two discussed ways to “lower the tones” and restore calm between Israelis and Palestinians, as well as explored ways to restart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Shalom asked Fabius to use his influence to convince Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas to stop his incitement against Israel.

Israeli government officials have repeatedly said that Abbas, along with Hamas, is one of the biggest causes of the violence against Israelis by their proclamations that Israel seeks to “take over” the Temple Mount.

Despite the fact that the Mount is the holiest site in Judaism, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that the notion that Israel was changing the status quo at the site was “absurd. 

Shalom and Fabius also discussed France's activities in Iraq and Syria fighting ISIS. France recently decided to enter the air war against the Islamist terror group, and has been flying forays into the interior of ISIS-controlled territory, running bombing sorties.

Shalom thanked Fabius for France's consistent stance against the deal to authorize Iran's nuclear program. Even though the deal was eventually approved, Shalom said, France's caution and hesitation on the deal were greatly appreciated by Israel.

It's not clear if Shalom raised with Fabius France's proposal to post international observers on the Temple Mount.

French Ambassador to Israel Patrick Maisonnave was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Monday morning, to be rebuked over the French proposal to the UN Security Council calling for international observers on the Temple Mount.

Maisonnave's summons is meant to express Israel's keen displeasure at the proposal that was made in opposition to its stated position, and which ignores the way in which Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Mount is being used to incite Arab terror.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded to the call for international observers on the holiest site in Judaism, by saying at a Security Cabinet on Sunday night that in the proposal "there is no mention of Palestinian incitement, there is no mention of Palestinian terrorism."

"There is a call for the internationalization of the holy places. We've seen what happens to the holy places in the Middle East - what has happened at Palmyra, what is happening around Iraq and Syria, and elsewhere - that radical Muslims are destroying each other's mosques, not to mention the Christian sites, world heritage sites, Jewish sites."