While Emmanuel Macron’s comments on Israel were widely criticized, the French president claimed that they had been “distorted”, pointing the finger at his ministers as well as journalists.
This is a statement that was not intended to leak. Emmanuel Macron would have, according to information from Parisianaffirmed, during the Council of Ministers on Tuesday, October 15, that “Mr. Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a UN decision.” Such statements followed Israeli strikes which hit UN peacekeepers in Lebanon. They did not please Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at all, who defended that Israel was founded thanks to the 1948 War of Independence.
The French president, for his part, did not appreciate that his words were repeated in this way, attacking the press but also his ministers. “It is up to each of the participants in this Council (of ministers) to be respectful of its rules through ethics, personal discipline, so as not to circulate false, truncated or taken out of context information. It is up to journalists and commentators to treat rumors and reported comments with the necessary precautions”, he declared in Brussels after the European Council this Thursday, October 17. The Head of State recalled that the Councils of Ministers are reported by the government spokesperson and by press releases. The president also felt that he spoke enough about the situation in the Middle East to “not need ventriloquists.”
Emmanuel Macron also seems not to have digested the reactions which followed the leak of his remarks: “I was stunned to read so many comments, reactions including from foreign or French political leaders to remarks that I would have made without ask yourself the question of knowing what exactly I would have said”, ensuring that the latter have been “distorted”. He denounced “a disintegration of public debate” and “a lack of professionalism”.
“I say enough about the situation in the Middle East not to need a ventriloquist”
The head of state, Emmanuel Macron, denounces a distortion of his remarks on the creation of Israel pic.twitter.com/d4oNAVBAfq
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) October 17, 2024
During questions following the president’s speech, the latter was pushed to deny, once again, having made such a statement about Israel. He then assured “that he had been clear” and that “if it is not in the press release or the spokesperson’s report, it does not exist”.
A convincing answer?
The reactions to the president’s speech were not long in coming. On the political side, Benjamin Lucas, spokesperson for the environmental and social group in the Assembly, ironically questioned: “That’s true, journalists, why don’t you simply and stupidly repeat the official press releases? Why are you bothering, in cross-checking sources, seeking the truth? On the other hand, the Presidential Press Association accused the president of “seriously calling into question the ethics of the press which rigorously investigates and cross-checks its sources.”
It is also not certain that this justification convinced the Israeli Prime Minister. Tensions have been palpable between the two men for several weeks. The French president notably spoke out in favor of stopping arms deliveries to Israel in Gaza. A demand which did not go through with Benjamin Netanyahu, believing that “all civilized countries should stand firmly alongside” Israel.