Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has strongly rebuked French President Emmanuel Macron, stating he “once again chose to stand” with Hamas.
“Instead of supporting the Western democratic camp fighting the Islamist terrorist organisations and calling for the release of the hostages, Macron is once again demanding that Israel surrender and reward terrorism,” Netanyahu said in a post on X Wednesday.
“Israel will not stop and will not surrender,” he added.
The Israeli PM’s statement came in reaction to a televised three-hour interview with Macron on Tuesday night, in which the French president said Europe should consider sanctioning Israel over the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands are thought to be now facing starvation.
“What he’s doing is shameful,” Macron said of Netanyahu during his interview with TF1 television on Tuesday.
This is not the first time the two have publicly sparred over the same subject in recent times.
Netanyahu’s criticism of Macron on Wednesday came a month after the French president angered the Israeli government by contemplating recognition of a Palestinian state “because at some point it will be fair” in another televised interview.
Netanyahu then called Macron to express “fierce opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state, and said that this would constitute a huge prize for terrorism,” his office said in a statement on 15 April.
“A Palestinian state established a few minutes away from Israeli cities would become an Iranian stronghold of terrorism,” Netanyahu warned at the time, according to his office.
Since renewing its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza in early March following a breakdown of further ceasefire talks, Israel has blockaded the Strip, with no food or medicine allowed into the territory for more than two months.
As a result, food experts have said that the entire population of Gaza now faces a critical risk of famine.
Human rights groups say Israel is using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war, something Netanyahu and his government deny. Israel has accused Hamas of profiting from its control of the humanitarian aid flow into the Strip and using it to strengthen its militants.
The ongoing Israel-Hamas war started when the militant group staged an assault on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage.
