Daniel Bernard

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Daniel Bernard (1941-2004) was a French diplomat who caused a controversy with a remark attributed to him in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Daniel Bernard was appointed French ambassador to the United Kingdom in early 2001. According to the UK's Daily Telegraph in December 2001, Bernard called Israel a "shitty little country" and blamed it for the ongoing unrest in the Middle East, in a conversation with Conrad Black of the Daily Telegraph at a private dinner party in December 2001. Bernard's supposed comment was then later repeated in an article written by Black's wife, Barbara Amiel, in the Daily Telegraph. Bernard's press secretary stated, "He does not deny the remarks, he just says first of all what he said was distorted." (Irish Examiner, as cited below)

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, 22 December 2001[1], Daniel Bernard wrote, 'Over the past few days, I have been the subject of grave accusations because of a comment I am reported to have made during a conversation with Lord Black. The facts are: while we were discussing the Israeli-Palestinian issue, I pointed out to Lord Black that this tragedy was taking place in a geographically limited area (I even specified that it was the equivalent of three French departments) that for 40 years had been suffering from a conflict whose equitable solution seems more out of reach than ever. Of course, I never meant to insult Israel or any other part of that region. The deliberately biased presentation of this conversation in some circles, accompanied by malicious accusations, is deeply shocking and insulting.'

The British press saw a firestorm as a result, as comment on the 23 December 2001 in the Daily Telgraph exemplifies [2]. In contrast, the French press saw the incident radically differently, while recognising that Bernard was a flamboyant character. Le Monde 2 May 2004 [3] . Also see his obiturary in Le Monde 03 Janvier 2002 [4].

Bernard was reassigned to become France's ambassador to Algeria in July of 2002, and in April 2004 died while serving in that post, at the age of 62.

Of Daniel Bernard's life, the Daily Telegraph wrote "Daniel Louis Bernard was born on September 13, 1941 in Lyon and educated there at the Lyceé du Parc. Young Daniel first came to Britain as a 12-year-old schoolboy when he attended a grammar school in Birmingham for six months."[5]