Earlier this week, Macron told ministers that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should not “ignore the decisions of the United Nations.” His comments were leaked and later confirmed by his foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, in a parliamentary hearing. Macron was also quoted as saying that “Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a UN decision.”
The comments, which refer to the November 1947 UN General Assembly vote that ended the British Mandate of Palestine and divided the territory into a Jewish and an Arab state, angered Netanyahu – who said Israel was founded by Holocaust survivors “including from the (Nazi collaborationist) Vichy regime in France”.
In Brussels on Thursday evening, Macron tried to quell the controversy by talking about his government and the media during a news conference at the end of a summit of EU leaders.
Ministers “must follow the rules and be ethical, not share comments that are either truncated, false or taken out of context,” Macron said. The French president added that he was “stunned” to read articles about what he allegedly said.
“I talk enough about the situation in the Middle East and I don’t need ventriloquists,” he said.
The French government is led by conservative Prime Minister Michel Barnier and includes ministers from Macron’s centrist camp, but also from the center-right Les Républicains party. Therefore, it is not always fully aligned with the president’s visions.
Tensions are rising between Macron and Netanyahu as Israel continues its strikes against the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon – a country that has long historical ties to France – particularly after the Israel Defense Forces struck UN peacekeepers in the south of the country.
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Macron also recently called for an end to arms shipments to Israel in an interview with a French radio station, prompting an angry response from Netanyahu.
Last month, France tried to broker a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, which was compromised when Netanyahu ordered attacks on the group’s headquarters, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah.
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(source: AFP)
Source: jurnalul.ro
