An Israeli journalist says he overheard the newly-appointed French ambassador to Israel describe Ariel Sharon as “a lout,” and the state of Israel as “paranoid:” France’s new man in Israel says Sharon is a ‘lout’.

The ambassador, Gerard Araud — who is due to take up his post in September — immediately denied the accusations, according to a brief statement released by the French foreign ministry on Sunday.

A correspondent for Yediot Aharonot, Boaz Bissmuth, said he had overhead a conversation between Araud and two other veteran diplomats in the gardens of the French foreign ministry in Paris.

The journalist said he then introduced himself to the incoming ambassador, who said: “You don’t intend to write that,” explaining that his comments were made during a private party and thus not in the public domain.

However, Bissmuth wrote he believed that the comments “were sufficiently serious” to warrant their publication.