Stopping arms deliveries to Israel: Macron’s position “linked to pure opportunism”, judge Georges Bensoussan

A year later, Israel is still healing its wounds. On October 7, 2023, a large-scale attack was carried out by Hamas in the Jewish state. Dozens of terrorists who entered the territory killed nearly 1,200 people in the early hours of the morning, and dozens more were kidnapped and have since been held captive in Gaza.

A traumatic event for the Israeli population, which pushed the region into total instability. For a year, the Israeli army has continued its counter-offensive in the streets of Gaza, in order to free hostages but also destroy Hamas. In recent days, the Jewish state has also launched a counterattack against Hezbollah, an Islamist organization supporting Hamas, this time in southern Lebanon. At the same time, Iran and Israel continue to threaten each other, worrying the international community.

“Give pledges to a certain number of French-speaking countries”

In the West as in the Global South, calls for ceasefires have been increasing for months. And this week, Emmanuel Macron called for stopping all arms deliveries to Israel used in Gaza, provoking the anger of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Invited this Monday morning on the set of La Grande interview Europe 1-CNews, historian Georges Bensoussan judges that the president’s declarations “are linked to pure opportunism”. “His statements are directly linked to the fact that he said this during the Congress of the Francophonie and we had to give assurances to a certain number of French-speaking countries in this sort of anti-Israeli tropism. And I think that we must put that in parallel with the fact that he did not participate in the march against anti-Semitism on November 12, 2023,” he continues.

A drop of water in an ocean

“It’s a very opportunistic logic and ultimately, on a diplomatic level, quite inconsistent because we cannot say to a country at the same time: ‘You have the right to defend yourself’, but at the same time, you cannot “You can only defend yourself with your hands tied behind your back because we don’t deliver weapons,” adds the writer.

“We could very well say that we are in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza and that is entirely valid, it is entirely rational and reasonable. But without putting forward the boycott argument, that is to say the argument of the ban on the sale of arms which, moreover, represents nothing since French arms sales to Israel are 0.2% of arms deliveries “, he concludes at the microphone of Europe 1.