To say this is the sort of thing that just isn’t done is the understatement of the century. It’s not clear if there is any precedent in the nearly 250 years of Franco-American diplomatic relations for the decision of Charles Kushner, the U.S. ambassador to France, to directly attack the French government’s indifference to antisemitism in a Wall Street Journal op-ed .

The traditional job of ambassadors is to promote good relations between the nations they represent and the government to which they are accredited. To speak out in this manner from that perch is pretty much the opposite of traditional ideas of diplomacy. In fact, that tradition dates back to the ancient world, when the concepts of nation-states and ambassadors, as well as the notion of diplomatic immunity for those who

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