Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his opposition to a unilateral ceasefire in Lebanon during a call with French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday.
According to a statement from his office, PM Benjamin Netanyahu believes such a statement would not enhance security and would simply return the situation to its previous state.
“The prime minister said in the conversation that he is opposed to a unilateral ceasefire, which does not change the security situation in Lebanon, and which will only return it to the way it was,” Netanyahu said.
PM Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli military have consistently emphasized the need for a secure buffer zone along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, free from any presence of Hezbollah fighters.
“PM Benjamin Netanyahu clarified to Macron that Israel would not agree to any arrangement that does not provide this and which does not stop Hezbollah from rearming and regrouping,” the statement from his office said.
The remarks followed French President Emmanuel Macron’s intensified call for Israel to adhere to UN resolutions. Macron reminded his ministers in a cabinet meeting that PM Netanyahu must not forget that his country was established by a decision of the UN.
The statement alludes to the pivotal UN resolution from November 1947, which proposed the partition of the territory into distinct Jewish and Arab states.
PM Benjamin Netanyahu responded on to Macron’s remarks on Tuesday, asserting that Israel’s founding was he result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, not merely a UN resolution.
“A reminder to the president of France: It was not the UN resolution that established the state of Israel, but rather the victory achieved in the war of independence with the blood of heroic fighters, many of whom were Holocaust survivors–including from the Vichy regime in France,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
Tension between Netanyahu and Macron have escalated, particularly after the French leader emphasized last week that halting the export of weapons used by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon is essential to ending the conflicts. France has also consistently condemned Israeli attacks on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, which include a contingent from France.
“Therefore this is not the time to disregard the decisions of the UN,” Macron added, as Israel wages a ground offensive against the Iran-backed Shiite militant group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where the UN peacekeepers are deployed.
His remarks from the closed-door meeting at the Elysee Palace were shared by an unnamed participant who spoke to AFP.
