Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly criticized French President Emmanuel Macron for suggesting a stop to sending arms to Israel during the Gaza conflict.
Macron expressed his views on France Inter radio, emphasizing the need to focus on finding a political solution and stopping weapon deliveries to Israel for Gaza. Macron repeated his worries about the increasing violence during a summit in Paris, disapproving of Israel’s choice to send troops into Lebanon despite pleas for a ceasefire. He said it’s important to prevent things from getting worse in Lebanon and mentioned,
“We don’t want Lebanon to end up like Gaza.” Netanyahu responded by blaming Macron and other leaders from the West for trying to stop Israel from getting weapons, which he called a “shame.” In a video, Netanyahu said, “Israel will succeed even without their help,” showing his anger towards what he saw as efforts to make Israel weaker in its battle against militant groups in Gaza and Lebanon.
During the interview, Macron made it clear that France is not sending weapons to Israel. He still thinks that stopping arms deliveries is important to calm things down. Macron was upset about Israel’s operations in Lebanon, saying it was making things worse by causing more hate and making the region less safe. Netanyahu’s office said that any country not supporting Israel is basically helping Iran and its friends. The prime minister said that all civilized countries must support Israel as it fights against what he called barbaric forces led by Iran. After Netanyahu strongly criticized Macron, the French president’s office responded by reaffirming France’s friendship with Israel but said that Netanyahu’s reaction was too much and didn’t match the friendship between France and Israel. Macron, recognizing Israel’s right to defend itself, also mentioned his plan to meet with relatives of people from France and Israel who were held captive in Gaza on Monday.
This comes at the same time as the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s violent October 7 assault on Israel, where more than 1,200 people died and 251 were captured. The health ministry controlled by Hamas reported that over 40,000 individuals have been killed in Gaza since then.
