“It is a black page in our own history. » Emmanuel Macron, who visited Israel on Tuesday, October 24, expressed solidarity after the Hamas attack and proposed an international “coalition” to “fight” the Palestinian Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip.
After an interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, the French president expressed his condolences to a “friendly country that is grieving in the face of the most terrible terrorist attack.” [l’]Story [d’Israël] and taken by [le] sadness and [la] Pain “. “I bring you today the emotions and solidarity of the French,” he continued. Our two countries share the same grief. »
This visit comes on the 18th day of the war between Israel and Hamas, which was triggered by the Palestinian movement’s attack on Israeli soil on October 7th. This unprecedented attack killed more than 1,400 people, the vast majority of them civilians, including thirty French or French-Israeli citizens. Israeli reprisals in Gaza have claimed more than 5,000 lives, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run enclave’s health ministry.
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“Regional conflagration”
Upon his arrival at Tel Aviv airport on Tuesday morning, the head of state met families of French or French-Israeli people killed, disappeared or held hostage in the Gaza Strip. He also revised the figure upward by confirming that nine French or French-Israeli people were “detained” – the Elysee Palace said they were hostages or missing. The head of state has made their release his “priority goal”. Among the families is that of Mia Shem, a French-Israeli hostage whose video was released by Hamas last week.
While France reiterates Israel’s right to defend itself in accordance with international law, Emmanuel Macron suggested that the international coalition founded in 2014 under the leadership of the United States to combat the Islamic State organization in Syria and Iraq, in which Paris is a part , “should also be able to fight against Hamas”. “The fight must be merciless, but not without rules, because we are democracies fighting against terrorists, democracies that therefore respect the laws of war and ensure humanitarian access to the population of Gaza,” he said, adding.
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The French president also reiterated that it is necessary “to fight these terrorist groups, without confusion and, I would say, without expanding the conflict.” He warned of “a regional conflagration in which everyone would lose” and solemnly and explicitly called on “the Iranian regime” and its regional allies, the Lebanese “Hezbollah” and “the Houthis in Yemen,” “not to take the risk unwisely “. “to open new fronts”, while the situation on the border with Lebanon is very tense.
“Political process”
“The Palestinian cause needs to be heard with good reason. The stability of the region will only be guaranteed if the Israeli response is “obviously safe and unforgiving in the face of terrorist groups, but also political,” pleaded the French president, deeming it necessary to “accept the legitimate right of the Palestinians.” To have access to “a territory and a state in peace and security alongside Israel.”
Emmanuel Macron also stressed the need for a “decisive resumption of the political process with the Palestinians,” which he also discussed with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah in the West Bank later that afternoon. “We call on you, President Macron, to put an end to this aggression,” the Palestinian leader told him, shifting responsibility for the conflict to Israel “and the countries that support it.” Without mentioning Hamas, he condemned the Israeli bombings, “which kill innocent civilians in barbaric ways.”
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“I see, I hear the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza,” “nothing can justify it,” replied the French president. However, when calling for “humanitarian protection,” he did not go so far as to publicly mention the “humanitarian ceasefire,” which could pave the way for a future “ceasefire,” as his government had done.
Mr. Macron, however, insisted that the Palestinian president had “uttered very clear words behind closed doors to condemn this terrorist attack and Hamas.” ” The future [des Palestiniens] requires a merciless and unambiguous fight against terrorism,” he warned. The head of state then flew to Amman, where he will “probably” meet King Abdullah II and “perhaps other leaders of the region,” according to the Elysée.
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Emmanuel Macron’s visit came after those of the President of the United States, Joe Biden, and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak. The French president had said in recent days that he wanted to travel to Israel if his visit was “useful.”
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The Palestinian Authority has not exercised power in the Gaza Strip since Hamas drove it out in 2007 after several days of armed clashes. But Hamas, the head of state stressed, “is a terrorist group,” “therefore it does not support the Palestinian cause” and “must be fought with violence.”
Those around him had declared that he would work for “a humanitarian ceasefire” that “could lead to a ceasefire.” But these words were not spoken by Emmanuel Macron during the joint statement.