Macron reminds Netanyahu that Israel was born from a UN decision

Photo: Bryan R. Smith Agence France-Presse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives to address the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations Headquarters in New York, September 2024.

Francesco Fontemaggi – Agence France-Presse

Published yesterday at 15:59 Updated yesterday at 21:14

• Middle East

Already heated, the tone rose again on Tuesday between French President Emmanuel Macron and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with a new, very firm exchange that this time focused on the role of the UN in the creation of the State of Israel.

“Mr. Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a decision of the UN,” declared Mr. Macron during the Council of Ministers, according to comments reported by participants, while the war in Gaza and Lebanon was being discussed.

“And consequently this is not the time to free ourselves from the decisions of the UN,” he continued, addressing, indirectly, the Israeli Prime Minister with whom he then spoke on the phone.

The “decision” invoked by Emmanuel Macron is Resolution 181 adopted in November 1947 by the United Nations General Assembly, providing for the partition of Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state.

The first, Israel, was created in 1948. This partition plan rejected by the Palestinians and the Arab countries, and the proclamation of the State of Israel, were the triggers of the Arab-Israeli war of 1948-1949.

Read also

• Lebanese Hezbollah threatens to attack “everywhere” in Israel

The second, the Palestinian state, has never yet existed.

Benjamin Netanyahu was visibly stung by these statements, and made this known with a thunderous response.

“A reminder to the President of France: it was not the UN resolution that established the State of Israel, but rather the victory obtained 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,” the head of the Israeli government reacted in a statement.

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

The president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) Yonathan Arfi was moved on X, adopting the same line, by Mr. Macron's remarks which, “if confirmed, are both a historical and political mistake.”

Furthermore, President Macron, during his meeting with Mr. Netanyahu, condemned “indiscriminate Israeli strikes which only add to an already unbearable human toll, in Gaza as in Lebanon,” according to a report from the Élysée Palace on Wednesday, which does not mention the passages criticized by the Prime Minister.

“Unjustifiable targeting”

These new statements come as Paris is insistently calling for a ceasefire in both Gaza and Lebanon. And denounces the Israeli strikes in both cases, as well as the Israeli shots deemed “deliberate” against positions of the UN peacekeepers of the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL), several of whom were injured.

The head of French diplomacy Jean-Noël Barrot took care to specify that the declarations of the head of state aimed to recall “the importance for Israel as for all countries to respect the Charter of the United Nations, international law and international humanitarian law”.

UN Security Council Resolution 1701 states that only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers should be deployed in southern Lebanon and stipulates a cessation of hostilities on both sides of the border.

But Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement was using “UNIFIL installations and positions as cover to carry out its attacks” against Israel.

UNIFIL, a force of 10,000 men including a contingent of 700 French, has denounced “shocking violations” by Israel against its positions, reporting a “forceful” entry of two tanks into one of them on Sunday.

Emmanuel Macron has thus “urgently asked Israel to put an end to these “unjustifiable targeting,” reports the Élysée, specifying that France will continue to contribute “to the full implementation of the UNIFIL mission.”

Benjamin Netanyahu also told Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday that he “was opposed to a unilateral ceasefire, which would not change the security situation in Lebanon,” according to a statement from his services.

“Shame!”

This exchange of words follows another.

On October 5, the French president called for “an end to supplying weapons to fight in Gaza,” in a message addressed primarily to the United States. “France does not deliver any,” he stressed.

“Ceasing arms exports” used in the Palestinian territory but also in Lebanon is “the only lever” to end these conflicts, he added on Friday, while ensuring that it was not a question of “disarming” Israel.

“Shame!” the Israeli prime minister exclaimed in a video, saying that “all civilized countries should stand firmly by Israel” as it “fights the forces of barbarism led by Iran.”

The two men had ended up calling each other, already, to “assume their differences,” according to a report from the Élysée, also emphasizing France’s “unwavering commitment” to Israel’s security.