Emmanuel Macron was a guest of France Inter this Saturday, two days before October 7, the date of the deadly Hamas attack on Israel last year. It led to the outbreak of the war in Gaza, which has been ongoing ever since.
He was critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his response against the Palestinian Islamist group, which he promised to “annihilate”. “We condemned with the greatest firmness the terrorist attack of October 7, we recognized Israel’s right to defend itself… But as a democracy must do, respecting international and humanitarian law,” pleaded the leader of the state. “We do not fight against terrorism by sacrificing a civilian population,” he insisted again.
“We are not heard” by Israel
While the war in Gaza has led to numerous civilian deaths and a real humanitarian crisis, Emmanuel Macron regrets that France’s position is not followed by the Israeli Prime Minister. “We are not being heard and that is a fault, including for the security of Israel tomorrow,” he judged, assuring that he would continue to pursue the same policy on the situation in the Palestinian enclave as “for a year”.
In his interview on France Inter, the head of state also passed a message behind the scenes, without quoting it, to American President Joe Biden. “The priority is that we stop delivering weapons to carry out the fighting in Gaza,” pleaded the President of the Republic. The United States is Israel’s largest arms supplier.
While tensions have spread in Lebanon for more than two weeks, Emmanuel Macron demanded that “the Lebanese people” should not be “in turn sacrificed” in the war that Israel is waging against Hezbollah, putting the “de-escalation”.
“Lebanon cannot become a new Gaza,” he insisted, adding that he would like “an end to operations” on the one hand, but also that the Lebanese army could “return to the southern border” of the country. and that there be “a presidential election”. Mired in a political crisis since 2019, Lebanon has not had a president since 2022.
The Head of State spoke on the subject during an invitation on France Inter linked to the 19th Francophonie Summit, which opened Friday at the Cité internationale de la langue française in Villers-Cotterêts , 60 km north of Paris.
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