Benjamin Netanyahu “must not forget that his country was created by a UN decision”, declares Emmanuel Macron; the Israeli prime minister responds | EUROtoday

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Benjamin Netanyahu, at UN headquarters in New York, September 27, 2024.

“ [Benyamin] Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a UN decision. declared Emmanuel Macron during the council of ministers, Tuesday October 15, according to comments reported by participants to Agence France-Presse. The head of state was referring to the vote, in November 1947, by the United Nations General Assembly on the plan to divide Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state.

“And therefore this is not the time to free ourselves from UN decisions”he continued, whereas Israel is finishing up a floor offensive towards the pro-Iranian Hezbollah motion in southern Lebanon, the place peacekeepers are deployed.

In the night, the pinnacle of the Israeli authorities responded by press launch. “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 Shoah – notably of the Vichy regime in France”including that “the UN has approved hundreds of anti-Semitic decisions against the State of Israel”in keeping with him.

In one other press launch, reporting the phone alternate between MM. Macron and Netanyahu, the workplace of the pinnacle of presidency of the Hebrew state notes that Benjamin Netanyahu “said he was opposed to a unilateral ceasefire, which would not change the security situation in Lebanon” and that he “was surprised by President Macron’s intention to host a conference in Paris on the question of Lebanon, with participants such as South Africa and Algeria, who are working to deny Israel its fundamental right to self-defense and, in fact, rejecting one’s very right to exist.”

Read additionally | Article reserved for our subscribers Between Emmanuel Macron and Benjamin Netanyahu, a weekend of tense exchanges on the scenario within the Middle East

Paris considers “unacceptable” that Israel targets peacekeepers

Tensions have increased between the two leaders since the French head of state insisted last week that stopping exports of weapons used by Israel in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon was the only way to end these wars. France also ruled “completely unacceptable” that the blue helmets of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which include a French contingent, are “deliberately targeted by Israeli armed forces”after several of them were injured by Israeli fire in southern Lebanon.

But Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Hezbollah was using “UNIFIL installations and positions as cover to carry out its attacks” against Israel, and called on Sunday October 13 the Secretary General of the United Nations, 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, reporting an entry “in force”, Sunday, two tanks in one of its positions. The Israeli army said one of its tanks crashed into a UNIFIL post while evacuating wounded soldiers.

On Friday, the head of state judged “completely unacceptable” that the peacekeepers are “deliberately targeted by Israeli armed forces”. On Saturday, he expressed “its great concern about the intensification of Israeli strikes in Lebanon and their dramatic consequences for civilian populations”and at the same time asked Hezbollah to “stop immediately” strikes against Israel, reiterating its call for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon.

Read the editorial of “Le Monde” | France is struggling within the Middle East

The World with AFP

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