“If we call for a ceasefire, consistency means not providing the weapons of war.” By demanding, on Saturday October 6, an end to deliveries to Israel of weapons used in the Gaza Strip, Emmanuel Macron aroused the anger of the Israeli Prime Minister, just before the anniversary of the October 7 attacks.
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 Benyamin Netanyahu. “Shame,” shouted the Israeli leader to the French president and other Westerners calling for arms embargoes against his country.
Qatar, a key mediator in talks on a ceasefire in Gaza, judged for its part that Emmanuel Macron’s declaration was “an important and appreciated step towards ending the war”. A call also welcomed by Jordan. “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,” said the French head of state during a speech. an interview with France Inter, recorded Monday and broadcast Saturday. “France does not deliver any,” he clarified, targeting the United States directly.
Criticism of Netanyahu’s strategy in Lebanon
“I think that those who supply them cannot every day call 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 itself on alert as the anniversary of October 7 approached, for fear of attacks. “As Israel fights the forces of barbarism led by Iran, all civilized countries should stand firmly alongside Israel,” Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Monday marks the first anniversary of the unprecedented terrorist attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on its territory, which caused shock in the country and sparked the war in the Gaza Strip, which has since spread to neighboring Lebanon against the Hezbollah. The October 7 attack resulted in 1,205 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures, including hostages who died or were killed in captivity in Gaza. In retaliation, Israel launched a military operation which left at least 41,825 dead in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to the Hamas government.
Emmanuel Macron also criticized Israeli ground operations in Lebanon, in addition to targeted bombings against Hezbollah, an ally of Iran and support of Hamas. “I regret that Prime Minister Netanyahu made another choice (than the ceasefire proposed by Paris and Washington, editor’s note), in particular land operations on Lebanese soil,” he declared.
“This amounts to playing into the hands of Hamas and Hezbollah,” according to Crif
Insisting on the “coherence” of the French position, he also reaffirmed “solidarity (of Paris) with the security of Israel”. In its clarification, the French presidency recalled that Paris had “mobilized its military resources” to help intercept missiles fired on Tuesday during a vast attack by Iran against Israel. The head of state also announced that he would receive the families of Franco-Israeli hostages held in Gaza on Monday at the Elysée. 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.
At the UN podium, on September 25, the president returned Israel and Hezbollah back to back by asking them to cease their hostilities. Hezbollah, which has increased its firing on the Lebanese border with Israel since 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 president on France Inter, warning against “a resentment which is being born, a hatred which is nourished by this “.
But the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (Crif) “strongly” deplored the words of Emmanuel Macron: “Calling to deprive Israel of weapons is not playing the game of peace, it amounts to playing the game of Hamas and Hezbollah!” This declaration “also encourages rebellious France in its radicalism and its strategy of chaos in public debate”, he denounced, after Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s call to “put Palestinian flags wherever it is possible” from Tuesday.