Jean-Noël Barrot left Israel Tuesday morning after a day of commemorations, one year after the October 7 attacks. The French foreign minister has completed a regional tour intended to push for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon. But the reception in Israel was complicated given the tensions between the two countries.
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With our special correspondent in Jerusalem, Julien Chavanne
Jean-Noël Barrot will not have seen Benjamin Netanyahubut will have spent 1 hour 40 minutes with Ron Dermer, the Minister of Strategic Affairs, very close to the Israeli leader. A ” real exchange », According to a diplomatic source. We “ felt them sensitive » to a riposte « calibrated » to the Iranian attacks, we add on the French side, where we rule out any hypothesis of a bilateral crisis between France and Israel. In any case, this is what the head of French diplomacy said in his own way: “ As friends, we must tell each other the truth, frankly. And it is possible, sometimes, that friends do not have quite the same perspective, the same analysis “.
Lucid, the French minister preferred to focus his visit to Israel on tribute to the victims of October 7rather than on the diplomatic field. After also meeting his counterpart, Israel Katz, Mr. Barrot judged that Hezbollah had a “ heavy responsibility » in the situation Lebanonwhere the Israeli army continues its bombings. Before recalling that “ This sad anniversary of October 7 is an opportunity to remind us: France is unfailingly committed to the security of Israel. »
The only tangible regional progress of this tour: the organization of a conference in support of Lebanon in France before the end of October. In Riyadh and Doha, Jean-Noël Barrot received “ powerful supports », According to a diplomatic source. In other words, promises of money from Saudi Arabia and Qatar to finance the Lebanese army and humanitarian aid, once calm has returned. A bet on the future, since no truce seems imaginable in the short term.
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