Daniel Bernard (13 September 1941; Lyon – 29 April 2004; Paris) was a French diplomat who served as the Ambassador to the United Kingdom and Algeria.
In 2001, Daniel Bernard came to public attention when, as French Ambassador to the United Kingdom, he was quoted as saying: "All the current troubles in the world are because of that shitty little country, Israel."
He stated that "In the course of the discussion the ambassador referred to 'little Israel' in the sense that it is geographically small, but that nevertheless the scale of the consequences is huge and the repercussions around the world are tremendous.
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.
British Labour MPs Jim Murphy and Gwyneth Dunwoody wrote to French President Jacques Chirac that asking that Bernard either resign or be removed from his position.
"[6] In Israel, the remark sparked outrage, with Raanan Gissin, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon calling Bernard's statement "a pure anti-Semitic expression" and further stating that the French Government "should draw the conclusions of a senior representative of a nation making an anti-Semitic remark".