French President Emmanuel Macron reminded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel was founded through a UN decision, according to reports from French media on Tuesday.
During a private meeting at the Elysee Palace, Macron referred to the UN General Assembly resolution from November 1947, which proposed the partition of Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state.
Macron, who has called for a halt to weapon exports to Israel for use in Gaza and Lebanon, cautioned that now is not the time to dismiss UN resolutions.
Despite widespread international condemnation and demands for a ceasefire, Israel continues its military operations in both Gaza and Lebanon. France has also denounced Israeli attacks on UN peacekeepers stationed in southern Lebanon.
However, Netanyahu’s office pushed back on Macron’s comments, stating that Israel was not created by a UN decision but rather through its “War of Independence.”
In a statement posted on X, Netanyahu’s office said: “A reminder to the French President: Israel was not established by a UN resolution, but through the victory in the War of Independence, paid for with the blood of our brave fighters, many of whom were Holocaust survivors, including those who endured the Vichy regime in France.”
The statement also criticized the UN, saying: “In recent decades, the UN has passed hundreds of antisemitic resolutions targeting Israel, aiming to deny the one and only Jewish state’s right to exist and defend itself.”
