Qatari pressure prompted Orange anti-Israel effort, Israel Hayom learns

The reason behind recent efforts by French telecom giant Orange to boycott Israel is the deepening relationship between France Telecom, the parent company of Orange, and Qatar, Israel Hayom has discovered.

The relationship between France Telecom and Qatar, mediated by the Qatari Sheikh Fahad Ghanim Al Thani, is part of warming ties between the company and the Arab world. Just in the last year, France Telecom signed contracts with Morocco, Tunisia, Iraq and Saudi Arabia totaling $3 billion.

According to information passed onto senior officials at Partner -- the Israeli company that licenses the Orange brand -- the motive for Orange's moves against Israel are not just business related, but rather a capitulation to Arab pressure, mainly exerted by Qatar. Qatar is expected to sign a $1 billion deal to expand their cooperation with the French company in the near future.

Meanwhile, Orange has backtracked from its plan to withdraw from Israel. The company's CEO, St phane Richard, said Saturday that he has no plans to quit Israel.

Israel protested to France after Richard said the 25% state-owned telecoms group planned to terminate an arrangement with Israel's Partner Communications, drawing accusations Orange was bending to a pro-Palestinian boycott movement.

"Orange does not support any form of boycott, in Israel or anywhere else in the world," Richard said in comments emailed to news agency Agence France-Presse and confirmed by an Orange spokesman.

"Our decision on the use of the brand is motivated -- as it is all over the world -- solely by our brand strategy. Let me make it very clear that the Orange Group is in Israel to stay."

Last Wednesday, Richard told a news conference in Cairo that he was willing to withdraw the Orange brand from Israel "tomorrow morning."

An Orange spokesman said there had been a "huge misunderstanding," and that Richard had not been referring to exiting the country.

Richard has apologized for making the remark, and has even approached the Israeli Embassy in France seeking a reconciliation meeting with the Israeli Ambassador Yossi Gal. The Foreign Ministry is considering Richard's request. Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said that Richard had called his personal number and "apologized in his own name and in the name of the company for his remarks. He said that they oppose boycotts of all kinds."

But the owner of the Israeli company Partner Haim Saban, who spoke at a conference aimed at combating anti-Israel boycotts over the weekend, insisted that Richard's apology was a lie. "We will consider all our options. One thing is certain: This isn't over," Saban said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also rejected Richard's apologies, saying that "his declarations about his admiration for Israel do not line up with the hostile remarks he made in Cairo."

In a recording of excerpts of the conference emailed by the spokesman, Richard said Orange had negotiated a termination date in the contract regarding the use of the Orange brand.

"Now ... we have the capacity to terminate this contract in the future," he said. "Our intention is to terminate the contract. Our intention is as soon as possible from a contractual point of view and preserving our interests of course, our intention is to withdraw Orange brand from Israel."

He added: "Our group policy is not to license our brand when we're not the operator. ... There isn't a single country in the world where we do that, so there's no reason to do it in Israel either. ... We want to control our brand."

Partner said the only link between it and Orange was the brand, used by the Israeli company since 1998.

Netanyahu this week demanded France publicly renounce what he called "the distressing statement and action" taken by Orange.

France's Foreign Ministry responded that Paris opposed any boycott of Israel, but stressed Orange was free to define its own policy.

France issued a warning to French investors a year ago that investments in Israeli settlement areas carried legal risks, a move which raised concerns in Israel.

French human rights groups have asked the government to encourage Orange to pull out of its relationship with its partner.

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