Already high, the tension rose a notch on Tuesday, October 15, between Benjamin Netanyahu and Emmanuel Macron. After having aroused, two days before the October 7 commemorations, the fury of the Israeli Prime Minister by calling, on France Inter, for this “let us stop delivering weapons [à Israël] to lead the fighting in Gaza,” the French head of state crossed swords with the Israeli prime minister over the UN and the creation of Israel.
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“Mr Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a UN decision”would have launched Mr. Macron during the council of ministers, according to comments reported by participants, while the war in Gaza and the fighting in Lebanon were being discussed. A reference to Resolution 181 adopted in November 1947 by the United Nations General Assembly, providing for the partition of Palestine into one Jewish state and an Arab state. “And therefore, now is not the time to free ourselves from UN decisions”, would have underlined the French president, in reference to the shots targeting the UN mission (UNIFIL) deployed in the south of Lebanon, which Israel demands to be redeployed a little further north in order to be able to carry out its offensive against Hezbollah.
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Benjamin Netanyahu’s response was scathing. “It was not the UN resolution that established the State of Israel, but rather the victory achieved in the War of Independence with the blood of heroic fighters, many of whom were Holocaust survivors – notably the Vichy regime in France”replied the head of the Israeli government in a press release.
The latter received the support of the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF): “The remarks attributed to the President of the Republic, if confirmed, are both a historical and political mistake”wrote Yonathan Arfi, in a message on X: “To suggest that the creation of the State of Israel was the result of a political decision by the UN is to ignore the century-old history of Zionism. »
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Even before the controversy broke out, Emmanuel Macron and Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the phone for more than an hour, only to once again note their differences. The French president insisted, according to the Elysée, on the “absolute need to conclude a ceasefire without further delay in Lebanon”. The head of state has “expressed outrage after several peacekeepers were injured by Israeli forces in Naqoura, and urged Israel to put an end to this unjustifiable targeting.” On the contrary, the Israeli prime minister opposes any ceasefire “unilateral” in Lebanon.
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