A video of French President Emmanuel Macron went viral last month. He was recorded yelling at Israeli security personnel during his trip to Jerusalem. News concerning the incident greatly overshadowed Macron’s political talks and his attendance at the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Despite the coverage, the true reason for Macron’s loss of temper has been overlooked.

During his two-day trip, Macron met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, opposition leader Benny Gantz and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. He also attended a ceremony to commemorate the liberation of Nazi Germany’s Auschwitz death camp.

But none of Macron’s activities caught the attention of the media as much as a seemingly unrelated event. Macron visited the Church of St. Anne in Jerusalem’s Muslim Quarter in the Old City on January 22. The church building was given to France by the Ottoman Empire in 1856. French authorities claim the church and three other sites as French territories, but rarely does a French president so furiously defend these claims.

“Everybody knows the rules. I don’t like what you did in front of me,” Macron shouted at Israeli security personnel in English. “Go out—outside, please!” he added, emphasizing that the rules have been in place “for centuries” and they “will not change with me.”

Why did Macron get so angry? Some say he wanted to boost his popularity in France. In 1996, the popular former French President Jacques Chirac also expressed great annoyance with Israeli security guards. He too refused to enter St. Anne until Israeli security left the site. But there is more to Macron’s outburst than merely trying to imitate Chirac. Chirac saw the Israeli security guards, in general, as an annoyance during his entire visit. Macron only corrected them at St. Anne.

“Macron Begins Jerusalem Visit by Underscoring France’s History in Region,” the Jerusalem Post headlined. Macron specifically planned this visit and was likely prepared for a possible confrontation with security personnel.

The message Macron wanted everyone to take away from his trip to Jerusalem was that France has a century-old connection, and even territorial claims, to the holy city.

Concerning the peace process, Macron told reporters on January 15: “France always has a role to play, and I don’t think we’re absent from the debates in the region.”

It’s true: Europe has its own ideas for peace in Jerusalem.

Crusaders and the Holocaust

Macron’s fit of anger is more concerning when you understand St. Anne’s historical background. St. Anne is called the “Crusader Church.” Sadly, few people today know enough about the Crusades to understand what this means. This is one of the few monuments in Jerusalem that reminds us of the Crusades.

By confronting the Israeli security guard, Macron took a passionate stance for the history of French crusaders—just before commemorating the Holocaust. In fact, the Holocaust and the Crusades weren’t all that different. In the Middle Ages, persecution of Jews in Europe took place at the same time as attacks on Jews and Muslims in the Middle East.

“Crusader Jerusalem is seen at its best in the simple strength of St. Anne’s (a.d. 1138),” Jerome Murphy-O’Connor writes in his book The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide From Earliest Times to 1700. Biblicalarchaeology.org highlights St. Anne’s history in the Crusades: “The Crusades history of Jerusalem is evident in such churches as St. Anne’s ….”

The Crusades, unlike the Holocaust, are viewed in a positive light today. “Crusades history has acquired a bit of a romantic glow in our modern times, a glow that is far from the gritty, bloody reality,” Biblicalarchaeology.org noted in 2018. In “When Crusader Kings Ruled Jerusalem,” Jack Meinhardt explained:

It was one of the most romantic, chaotic, cruel, passionate, bizarre and dramatic episodes in history. In the 12th and 13th centuries a.d., a continual stream of European armies, mustered mostly in present-day France and Germany, marched out to destroy the infidel. Crusaders attacked non-Christians in northern and Eastern Europe; they conducted bloody pogroms against Jews and “heretical” Christians in their own territories; they campaigned to push Muslims off the Iberian Peninsula and out of North Africa; and most important of all, they conquered Palestine, ruling the Holy Land from their citadel in Jerusalem.

France has territory in Jerusalem as the result of a push to make Jerusalem a Catholic headquarters.

Should France really be proud of this history? Macron should have been apologizing for the history of French Crusaders as he apologized for France’s part in the Holocaust. Macron cannot be accused of lacking historical understanding; his speeches and policies prove that he has a profound understanding of French history.

St. Anne was built on the blood of heretics who opposed the occupation of French Crusaders. For those fighting, the spilled blood served a greater purpose, which the Catholic Church and European leaders deeply believed in. The Crusaders sought to establish Jerusalem as a city of peace. To this day, some believe this to be the solution to the crisis in the Middle East.

French leaders are well familiar with St. Anne’s history.

Pagans once held worship services where St. Anne stands today, until the Roman Empire “christianized” the area by building a Byzantine basilica in the fifth century. The location increased in Catholic significance during the reign of Baldwin i, French Baudouin de Boulogne, the first king of the Crusader state of Jerusalem. In 1100, Baldwin succeeded his brother Godfrey, who was appointed “the first king of Jerusalem.” St. Anne’s Church was completed around a.d. 1138. The building’s construction paralleled the height of the Crusader period in Jerusalem.

Following Baldwin’s success in the Crusades, Holy Roman emperors continued to claim the title “king of Jerusalem,” despite the fact that many of them never even set foot in the holy city.

Watching the videos of Macron’s Jerusalem trip, you get the impression that French leaders may still see themselves as important figures in Jerusalem.

The Quest for Jerusalem Continues

The Catholic Church’s goal over the centuries hasn’t changed. It still believes that christianizing Jerusalem is the true solution to peace. And the Bible reveals European leaders will again support the Catholic Church’s effort to control Jerusalem. This will be its last and most successful attempt to rule the city. Jeremiah 1:15 reads: “For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the Lord; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.”

A parallel prophecy in Daniel 11:40-45 and Revelation 17 give additional insight into how Europe’s last crusade will unfold. Revelation 17 reveals that the families of the kingdoms of the north consist of “ten kings” or 10 heads of state. Daniel 11 shows that these 10 kings will enter into Jerusalem as a peace-keeping force, but then bring sudden destruction. All these prophecies are connected as they all point to the same outcome: the coming of the Messiah, or the return of Jesus Christ. (These prophecies are explained in detail in Jerusalem in Prophecy, by Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry. All of our literature is free.)

For decades, the Trumpet and its predecessor, the Plain Truth, under the direction of Herbert W. Armstrong, have prophesied that France will be part of a unified European empire, a modern resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire. In light of these prophecies, Marcon’s incident with the Israeli security forces becomes all the more sobering.

Today, “France is resurrecting the Holy Roman Empire,” as Gerald Flurry wrote in the latest Trumpet issue. Mr. Flurry pointed to various trends through which France is currently reviving this history. The fact that Macron is setting his eyes on Jerusalem is yet another indication that we are about to see history repeat itself.

Both Bible prophecy and Macron’s visit to Jerusalem indicate that we are seeing European leaders emerge who appear as Israel’s friends but are mostly interested in ruling the city themselves.

“Jerusalem is a powder keg, loaded with nuclear potential! No city on Earth is so fraught with international tension as Jerusalem!” Mr. Flurry writes in Jerusalem in Prophecy. Conflict throughout the ages have revolved around this city. So many world rulers sought to bring peace through conquest to this city. But only one can bring peace to this city and consequently to the whole world—God.

The history of Jerusalem is bloody, but its future is hope-filled. God is about to bring peace to this city by supernatural intervention. He will also teach mankind why its attempts for peace have so desperately failed. To learn why God hasn’t intervened in world affairs yet, and how He soon will, read Jerusalem in Prophecy, by Gerald Flurry.