The US, France, Germany, the UK and Italy expressed their support for Israel in a joint statement
The United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy expressed their “firm and unified” support for Israel and “unequivocally” condemned Hamas and its “terrible acts of terrorism” in a joint statement on Monday evening.
The five Western countries will “remain united and coordinated” to ensure that the Jewish state is “capable of defending itself” and “creating the conditions for a peaceful and integrated Middle East.”
“We clearly state that Hamas’ actions have no justification or legitimacy and must be universally condemned. Nothing ever justifies terrorism,” write the American Presidents Joe Biden and the French Emmanuel Macron, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as well as the British Prime Ministers Rishi Sunak and the Italian Giorgia Meloni in this text, which was distributed on Twitter in particular by Emmanuel Macron. .
“Our countries support Israel in its efforts to defend itself and its people against these atrocities,” added Washington, Paris, Berlin, London and Rome. “We all recognize the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people and support equal standards of justice and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians.”
“But make no mistake: Hamas does not represent these aspirations and offers the Palestinian people nothing but more terror and bloodshed. »
“We also call on other extremist groups or any state that wishes to exploit the situation, in particular Iran, not to exploit this situation for other purposes or to expand the conflict beyond Gaza,” the text continued.
Correction posted at 1:30am. This last sentence, which refers to Iran, does not appear in the final communiqué of the five countries. This is the version published on X by Emmanuel Macron, who initially mentioned it before the message was deleted from the French president’s account. The last press release, since republished on X by Emmanuel Macronsaid: “We emphasize that no other anti-Israel actor should attempt to exploit these attacks.” »