Netanyahu slams Macron for urging arms embargo on Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has criticised French President Emmanuel Macron and other Western leaders over calls to halt arms deliveries to Israel for use in Gaza.

At a summit in Paris on Saturday, the French president reiterated his concern over the conflict in Gaza continuing despite ceasefire calls. He also criticised Israel’s decision to send ground troops into Lebanon.

Mr Macron said “the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza,” the BBC reported.

In a video released by his office on Sunday, Mr Netanyahu said “Shame on them,” referring to Mr Macron and other Western leaders who have called for the arms embargo on Israel.

“As Israel fights the forces of barbarism led by Iran, all civilised 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,” Mr Netanyahu said.

“Israel will win with or without their support”, adding that calling for an arms embargo was “a disgrace”.

In an interview with the French broadcaster, BBC reported Mr Macron as saying “France is not delivering any” weapons to Israel.

He added: “I think we are not being heard.”

“I think it is a mistake, including for the security of Israel,” Mr Macron said, adding that the conflict was leading to “hatred”.

The French President also said that avoiding an escalation in Lebanon was a “priority” and that “Lebanon cannot become a new Gaza.”

Despite the killing of thousands of civilians, Mr Netanyahu said Israel is “defending ourselves against this barbarism, Israel is defending civilization against those who seek to impose a dark age of fanaticism on all of us. Rest assured, Israel will fight until the battle is won – for our sake and for the sake of peace and security in the world.”

Mr Macron’s office later said that France is a “steadfast friend of Israel”, adding that Mr Netanyahu’s reaction was “excessive and detached from the friendship between France and Israel.”

While both the US and France had called for a ceasefire in Lebanon, Mr Macron said, “I regret that Prime Minister Netanyahu has made another choice, has taken this responsibility, in particular, for ground operations on Lebanese soil.”

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Monday will mark the first anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage.

The coastal strip of land has been under siege for one year and more than 41,000 people have been killed in Gaza as a result of the Israeli offensive, with little sign of a peace settlement in sight.

Israel has vowed to continue its attack on Gaza until Hamas, which governed Gaza, is eradicated.

Gaza also faces a dire humanitarian emergency, with a report from an international authority on hunger warning that “famine was imminent” in northern Gaza and that escalation of the war could push half of the territory’s 2.3 million people to the brink of starvation.