Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday took umbrage at remarks made by French President Emmanuel Macron, in which he stated that Israel was created by the United Nations.
Macron was speaking to his cabinet when he said, “Mr Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a decision of the U.N.,” referring to the resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1947 to partition Britain’s Palestinian mandate into separate Jewish and Arab states.
“Therefore, this is not the time to disregard the decisions of the U.N.,” he added.
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Israel accepted the partition plan while the Palestinians rejected it. Hours after declaring its independence on May 14, 1948, armies from the surrounding Arab countries attacked Israel, which won the war a year later.
“A reminder to the French President: It was not a UN decision that established the State of Israel but the victory that was achieved in the War of Independence with the blood of our heroic fighters, many of whom were Holocaust survivors, including from the Vichy regime in France,” Netanyahu read from a statement in response to Macron’s comment.
Macron’s remarks came as he called for an end to arms exports to the Gaza Strip and Lebanon in an effort to create conditions for a cease-fire.
The call for an arms embargo comes amid Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza following the terror group’s unprovoked attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and its military operations in Lebanon, following a year of rocket fire from Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran.
Earlier this month, Netanyahu criticized Macron and other Western leaders for calls to stop the flow of arms.
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“As Israel fights the forces of barbarism led by Iran, all civilized countries should be standing firmly by Israel’s side, yet President Macron and other western leaders are now calling for arms embargoes against Israel. Shame on them,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
He continued, “Is Iran imposing an arms embargo on Hezbollah, on the Houthis, on Hamas and on its other proxies? Of course not. This axis of terror stands together, but countries who supposedly oppose this terror axis call for an arms embargo on Israel.”
He called their stance a “disgrace,” saying that Israel would win “with or without their support, but their shame will continue long after the war is won.”
On Oct. 6, Macron said France would no longer supply arms to Israel, although it would continue to send missile defense equipment.
“I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza,” Macron said in an interview, according to Euro News.
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