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“If we call for a ceasefire, consistency means not providing the weapons of war.” Emmanuel Macron called on Saturday to stop deliveries to Israel of weapons used in Gaza, arousing the anger of the Israeli Prime Minister two days before the anniversary of the October 7 attacks.
Return to a political solution
Exchanges quickly took on the appearance of a crisis between the two countries. So much so that the Elysée published a clarification in the evening assuring that France “is the unwavering friend of Israel” and deploring the “excessive” words of Benjamin Netanyahu. “Shame,” shouted the Israeli leader to the French president and other Westerners calling for arms embargoes against his country.
Emmanuel Macron raised the issue of weapons for the first time during an interview on France Inter radio, recorded on Monday and broadcast on Saturday. “I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons to carry out the fighting in Gaza.” “France does not deliver any,” he immediately clarified, directly targeting the United States one month before the American election.
“I think that those who supply (them) cannot call every day alongside us for a ceasefire and continue to supply them,” he then insisted during a press conference, at the end of the a summit of the Francophonie in Paris.
Almost at the same time, the Israeli army declared its forces on alert ahead of the October 7 anniversary, for fear of attacks. “As Israel fights the forces of barbarism led by Iran, all civilized countries should stand firmly alongside Israel,” Benjamin Netanyahu also said.
>> TO KNOW – Israel commemorates on Monday the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on its territory, which caused astonishment in the country and triggered the war in the Gaza Strip, which has since spread to neighboring Lebanon against Hezbollah. The death toll from this attack amounts to 1,205 deaths, the majority of them civilians, killed by bullets, burned alive or mutilated according to an AFP count. A year later, 97 hostages are still held captive, including 33 declared dead.
In retaliation, Israel launched a military operation that has so far killed at least 41,825 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-led Gaza government.
The French president also criticized Israeli ground operations in Lebanon, in addition to targeted bombings against Hezbollah, an ally of Iran and supporter of Hamas, while reaffirming the Jewish state’s right to security.
Families of Franco-Israeli hostages held in Gaza received at the Elysée
“I regret that Prime Minister Netanyahu made another choice (than the ceasefire proposed by Paris and Washington, editor’s note), took this responsibility, in particular for land operations on Lebanese soil,” he said. -he declared. Insisting on the “consistency” of the French position, he also reiterated “solidarity (of Paris) with the security of Israel”.
In its clarification, the French presidency recalled that France had “mobilized its military resources” to help intercept Iranian missiles fired against Israel during the massive attack carried out at the beginning of the week.
The head of state also announced that he would receive the families of Franco-Israeli hostages held in Gaza on Monday at the Elysée. Four months after the Hamas attack, he had already paid tribute on January 7 to the French victims – at least 43 – of what he described as “the greatest anti-Semitic massacre of our century”, during a ceremony at Les Invalides. .
Netanyahu commits ‘a mistake’
At the UN podium, on September 25, the French president returned Israel and Hezbollah back to back by asking them to cease their hostilities in Lebanon. Hezbollah, which initiated hostilities on the border with Israel from the start of the offensive in Gaza, has been taking “for too long the unbearable risk of dragging Lebanon into war”, he insisted.
In Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu commits “a mistake, including for the security of Israel tomorrow”, added the head of state on France Inter, warning against “a resentment which is being born, a hatred which is nourished by this. The international community fears a regional conflagration as Iran fired nearly 200 missiles towards Israel on Tuesday, saying it was responding to the assassination of Hezbollah leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas Ismaïl Haniyeh. Israel is “preparing a response”, an Israeli military official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
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