Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday publicly rebuked French President Emmanuel Macron in an unusually harsh statement, after Macron called for a partial arms embargo on Israel.
“I have a message for President Macron. Today, Israel is defending itself on seven fronts against the enemies of civilization,” said Netanyahu. “All civilized countries should be standing firmly by Israel’s side. Yet President Macron and some other Western leaders are now calling for an arms embargo against Israel. Shame on them,” he said, adding: “What a disgrace.”
Israel, Netanyahu said, will “win with or without their support, but their shame will continue long after the war is won.”
The rebuke is part of a deterioration in relations between Israel and France. Macron, a centrist, is under a fierce attack by the left-wing over his country’s bilateral relations with Israel and his administration’s attempts to limit anti-Israel rioting.
Macron called for sanctions on Israel in an interview aired Saturday with the France Inter radio station. “I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza. France is not delivering any,” he said.
Reacting to Netanyahu’s rebuke, a spokesperson for the Macron’s office told Europe1 radio on Saturday that “France is eternally a friend of Israel.” Netanyahu’s language was “excessive,” the spokesperson added.
The Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF), a World Jewish Congress affiliate, joined Netanyahu in criticizing Macron’s statement as “playing into the hands of Hamas and Hezbollah.”
“The CRIF strongly deplores the statement by the president of the Republic calling for an embargo on arms used by Israel in the war against Hamas,” the organization tweeted overnight Saturday.
Le Crif déplore vivement la déclaration du Président de la République appelant à un embargo contre les armes utilisées par Israël dans la guerre contre le Hamas.
— CRIF (@Le_CRIF) October 5, 2024
Appeler à priver Israël d'armes, ce n'est pas faire le jeu de la paix, cela revient à faire le jeu du Hamas et du…
“Calling for Israel to be deprived of weapons is not playing into the hands of peace, it is playing into the hands of Hamas and Hezbollah! A truth is emerging in the Middle East: If Hamas lays down its arms, there will be peace. If Israel no longer has weapons, there is no longer a State of Israel,” the X post continued.
“The CRIF recalls that Hamas killed 48 French people in its terrorist attack on October 7 and is still holding 2 [French] hostages. Hamas refuses any ceasefire and any release of hostages. Depriving Israel of the ability to defend itself would be a bonus granted to terrorism, including that which strikes France,” CRIF said.
“This statement on the eve of the anniversary of October 7 hurts all those who have the fight against terrorism at heart. It also encourages France Insoumise [the France Unbowed party]in its radicalism and its strategy of chaos in the public debate. Democracies must stand together when one of them is attacked. Isolating one means weakening them all in the face of Islamism and terrorism,” the statement concluded.
Macron last month told Netanyahu in a phone call initiated by the French president that Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah were “pushing the region to war.”
Macron is not alone in targeting Israel. The U.K. government, which is led by Labour, had previously announced that it was withholding some arms shipments to Israel as it examines whether supplying them would violate international law.
Netanyahu called the decision “shameful” and “misguided” but stopped short of naming British Prime Minister Keir Starmer or using some of the harsh language employed in the message to Macron. Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said that the announcement “beggars belief” and “will serve to encourage our shared enemies.”
Unlike Britain and France, Germany and the United States are among the Western nations that have increased military aid to Israel.
