MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Macron melee with Israeli security during a visit to the St Anne Jerusalem Basilica

The French tricolor has flown over the Church of St. Anne in Jerusalem's walled Old City since it was gifted by the Ottomans to French Emperor Napoleon III

“Go outside,” French President Emmanuel Macron demanded in English in a melee with Israeli security men on Wednesday, demanding they leave a Jerusalem basilica that he visited before a Holocaust memorial conference.

 The French tricolor has flown over the Church of St. Anne in Jerusalem's walled Old City since it was gifted by the Ottomans to French Emperor Napoleon III in 1856.

France views it as a provocation when Israeli police enter the church's sandstone complex, in a part of Jerusalem captured and annexed by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

Wednesday's incident was a case of deja vu all over again. In 1996, France's then-president Jacques Chirac lost patience with Israeli security agents at the same church, telling one of them that his treatment was a “provocation” and threatening to get back on his plane. Chirac refused to enter St. Anne until Israeli security left the site.

Video showed Macron, jostled in the centre of a crowded circle between his own protective detail and Israeli security personnel, including several paramilitary policemen in uniform, under an archway leading into the church.

Macron then stopped the shoving and shouted at the Israeli security guards in English: “I don't like what you did in front of me.” Lowering his voice, he then said: “Go outside. I'm sorry, you know the rules. Nobody has to provoke nobody.”

Speaking later to reporters, Macron said the incident ended pleasantly and that he shook hands with the Israeli security officials.

French diplomats had cautioned that they want to leave little room for mishaps on Macron's trip. Earlier on Wednesday, a separate squabble ensued when Israeli police tried to enter St. Anne ahead of Macron's visit.

Macron is one of dozens of world leaders due to attend Thursday's World Holocaust Forum at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial center in Jerusalem, which will commemorate the 75-year anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.