French President Emmanuel Macron emphasized to his cabinet that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should remember Israel’s creation stemmed from a United Nations resolution. Macron urged Israel to comply with UN decisions as tensions between the two leaders have grown, especially after Macron’s recent call to halt arms exports used by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon to mitigate ongoing conflicts.
France has persistently condemned Israeli attacks on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, which includes French troops. Macron, during a weekly cabinet meeting, highlighted the significance of Israel’s founding by the UN’s 1947 resolution, which proposed partitioning Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states.
“This isn’t the moment to ignore UN resolutions,” Macron remarked, referencing Israel’s ongoing military operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where UN peacekeepers are stationed. His comments were shared by a participant from the closed-door meeting at the Élysée Palace, as reported by AFP.
UN Security Council Resolution 1701 restricts military presence in southern Lebanon to the Lebanese army and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Netanyahu recently suggested that UNIFIL’s 10,000-strong peacekeeping force, including 700 French personnel, should be relocated out of harm’s way, asserting that Hezbollah was utilizing them as “human shields.”
In a recent phone conversation, Netanyahu also expressed to Macron his refusal to agree to a unilateral ceasefire in Lebanon. According to a statement from Netanyahu’s office, he explained that such a ceasefire would not improve Lebanon’s security situation and would only restore the previous status quo.
