A warning intended for the head of the Israeli government. “Benyamin Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a UN decision”declared Emmanuel Macron, Tuesday October 15, according to participants in the Council of Ministers who reported these remarks to France Télévisions. The President of the Republic was referring to the vote, in November 1947, by the General Assembly of the United Nations, on the plan to divide Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state. “Therefore, now is not the time to free ourselves from UN decisions”he continued, while Israel is carrying out a ground offensive against the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement in southern Lebanon, where peacekeepers are deployed.
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The Israeli Prime Minister responded by asserting that the creation of his country emanated from “war of independence” of 1948, and not a UN decision. “A reminder to the President of France: 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 survivors of the Holocaust – notably of the Vichy regime in France”declared Benjamin Netanyahu in a press release.
“The remarks of the President of the Republic to the Council of Ministers were part of a general statement recalling the importance for Israel, as for all countries, of respecting the Charter of the United Nations, international law and international humanitarian law”explained the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, during his hearing at the National Assembly.
Emmanuel Macron’s comments come as Israel is leading an offensive in southern Lebanon. However, thehe United Nations Security Council resolution 1701, adopted in 2006, affirms that only the Lebanese army and the UN peacekeeping mission (UNIFIL) must be deployed in this region and stipulates the cessation of hostilities of both sides of the border. But Benjamin Netanyahu assured that Hezbollah was using “UNIFIL installations and positions as cover to carry out its attacks” against Israel, and called, on Sunday, the Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, to put the Blue Helmets “take shelter immediately”.
UNIFIL, with 10,000 men, including a contingent of 700 French, denounced “shocking violations” of Israel against its positions, reporting an entry “a force” Sunday of two tanks in one of them. The Israeli army said one of its tanks crashed into a UNIFIL post while evacuating wounded soldiers.
The Israeli Prime Minister also affirmed, Tuesday October 15, that he was opposed to a “unilateral ceasefire” in Lebanon during a telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to a statement released by his office.
Israel has repeatedly stressed the need for a buffer zone along its northern border with Lebanon to prevent any presence of fighters from Hezbollah, an ally of Palestinian Hamas. “Prime Minister Netanyahu made it clear that Israel would not accept any arrangement that did not provide for this and prevent Hezbollah from rearming and regrouping.” in southern Lebanon, the press release continued.
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