Israel’s ambassador to France, Joshua Zarka, denounces a “historical error” after the announcement, by Emmanuel Macron, from the next recognition of France from the state of Palestine.
“This is a historical error at all levels,” he said in BFMTV this Friday, July 25. The ambassador sees it “a message that says in Hamas, continues to do what you do, do not do peace” and “this terrible war continues.”
“It’s a reasoning that I don’t understand,” he punished.
Israel launched in 2023 an offensive in Gaza in retaliation for the attack of Hamas on October 7 that led to the death of 1,219 people, mainly civilians. Israeli reprisals left 59,587 people dead in Gaza, mainly civil, according to data from the Ministry of Health in Gaza, considered reliable by the UN.
“The vast majority of Israelis say that we must live in peace with the Palestinians. What are the conditions that will allow us to live in peace with the Palestinians? It will depend on us and for the Palestinians to decide directly, in negotiations. It will not be for France or for Mr. Macron, decide,” said Joshua Zarka this Friday. “Instead of helping peace, he pushed her back,” he added.
Recognition in September
Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that France will recognize the state of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly in September in New York. The French decision “rewards terror”, punished the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, referring to the unprecedented attack in Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. “Let’s be clear: the Palestinians do not seek to obtain a state with Israel, they are looking for a state in the place of Israel.”
“Hamas has always rejected the solution to two states. Recognizing Palestine, France demonstrates that this terrorist movement is incorrect. It gives reasons to the field of peace against war,” said Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, in X.
“After October 7, when there are still hostages in Hamas’ subsoil, when Hamas has just rejected, once again, the proposal of Alto El Fuego, which France decides to make this decision, is very serious,” said Josua Zark on Friday.
The vice president of the Palestine Liberation Organization (OLP), Hussein Al-Cheikh, praised this decision in favor of “the establishment of our independent state.” It is a “positive step,” added Hamas, calling other countries to follow this example. Saudi Arabia has also welcomed a “historical” decision and has asked other countries to take “similar positive measures.”
Divided European countries
France “will mobilize all of its international partners who wish to participate,” said Emmanuel Macron in a letter addressed to the president of the Palestinian authority Mahmoud Abbas.
On May 19, the United Kingdom, Canada and France had raided the way for possible recognition in a joint statement. But since then, none of the leaders of these three countries had taken the step. On July 10, visiting the United Kingdom, Emmanuel Macron requested a common recognition of the state of Palestine by France and the United Kingdom, without success at the moment.
In May 2024, Ireland, Spain and Norway, united a month later by Slovenia, it had already launched to Europe. “Together, we must protect what (Benjamin) Netanyahu is trying to destroy. The solution of two states is the only solution,” reacted to Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez in X. But Europeans are still divided on this issue, Germany believes that a recognition today would be “a bad sign.”
Pressure on Israel
In a letter dated June 9 addressed to the French president, Mahmoud Abbas promised to demilitarize the Islamist movement of Hamas, at the origin of the attacks of October 7, 2023 in Israel, within the framework of a future Palestinian state. He also said he was ready to organize legislative and presidential elections in 2026 to “strengthen the legitimacy” of the Palestinian authority and his “authority over the future Palestinian state”, including Gaza, remembers Emmanuel Macron in his letter.
So many salaries in favor of the solution of two states estimates the French president, hoping to convince the Israelis that she also interests her. “These are not letters that we need, they are” those that show that the population is “educated by peace,” reacted Israel’s ambassador to France this Friday in BFMTV.
Emmanuel Macron’s announcement occurs when the American emissary Steve Witkoff on Thursday failed the conversations in Doha for a high fire in the Gaza Strip. Israel faces a growing international pressure to end the suffering of the more than 2 million inhabitants of the Palestinian territory, subject to a block that deprives them of vital humanitarian aid. In this context, the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced an “emergency interview” on Friday with his French and German counterparts to see how “stop the massacres and provide the population with foods that need desperately.”
In France, the president of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, deplored a “hurried decision”, which will grant Hamas “an unexpected institutional and international legitimacy.” The leader of the rebel of France Jean-Luc Mélenchon, on the contrary, congratulated a “moral victory”, while deplorated that it is not immediate.
Source: BFM TV
