On 10 November 1986, French prime minister Jacques Chirac said in a recorded interview with the "Washington Times", that German chancellor Kohl and foreign minister Genscher both believed that "the Hindawi plot was a provocation designed to embarrass Syria and destabilize the Assad regime ... 'by' ... people probably connected to Israeli Mossad". Chirac added that he tended to believe it himself. The German government denied the conversation and privately requested that Chirac retract his statement. Chirac was also criticised by the French president Francois Mitterrand. A few days later, Chirac changed his opinion and said to Pierre Beregovoy during French National Assembly debates that Israel was innocent.