French President Nicolas Sarkozy was angry with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Israel refused to include France in the release of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit. Sarkozy offered the explanation after he told U.S. President Barack Obama last month that he was fed up with dealing with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and considered him a liar. According to an Israeli official, Sarkozy told Jewish leaders two weeks ago that his anger with Netanyahu was caused by events surrounding the deal to secure Gilad Shalit's release. Sarkozy offered Netanyahu a French helicopter to fly Shalit from Egypt to the Israeli air base of Tel Nof upon his release from Hamas custody - a helicopter carrier from the French navy that was in the area was already on-call - but Netanyahu rejected the offer. Sarkozy was very frustrated by Israel's refusal as well as by the fact that France did not get any credit for Shalit's release. He explained that France deserved to be part of the celebrations of Shalit's release since the abducted IDF soldier also holds French citizenship, as well as due to his personal efforts to secure Shalit's release.
