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Israel must stop killing babies and women in Gaza, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an exclusive interview with the BBC.
From the Élysée Palace in Paris, Macron said there was no “without justification” for the attacks in Palestinian territory, in addition to guaranteeing that a ceasefire would benefit Israel.
While recognizing Israel’s right to protect itself, he said: “We ask you to stop the bombings” in Gaza.
Macron also emphasized that France “clearly condemns” Hamas’ “terrorist” actions.
France – like Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom and other Western nations – considers Hamas a terrorist organization.
Asked if he wanted other leaders – including those from the United States and Britain – to join his call for a ceasefire, he replied: “I hope so.”
The French president spoke a day after a humanitarian aid conference in Paris about the war in Gaza.
He said that the “clear conclusion” of all governments and agencies present at that summit was that “there is no other solution than first a humanitarian pause, moving towards a ceasefire, which will allow us to protect all civilians who have nothing to do with the terrorists.
“Civilians are being bombed today, in fact. These babies, these women and these elderly people are being bombed and killed. There is no reason or legitimacy for this. So we urge Israel to stop.”
He stated that it was not his place to judge whether international law had been violated.
In a wide-ranging interview at the end of the first day of the Annual Paris Peace Forum, the French president spoke on a range of issues, including fears that violence would spread from the Middle East to France, urging citizens of all religions to be “united against anti-Semitism.” .
Speaking about the situation in Gaza, Macron said France “clearly condemns” the Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7, which triggered the war.
Hamas militiamen They killed more than 1,200 people and took another 240 hostages. in the unprecedented cross-border attack they launched that day.
“We share the pain [de Israel]. And we share your desire to end terrorism. In France we know what terrorism means.” But he said there was “no justification” for the continued bombing of civilians in Gaza.
“It is extremely important for all of us because of our principles, because we are democracies. It is important in the medium and long term, as well as for Israel’s own security, to recognize that all lives matter.”
When questioned, he refused to claim that Israel had violated international law in Gaza. “I’m not a judge. I’m head of state,” he said, stressing that it would not be right to criticize Israel, which is “a partner and a friend” from Francejust a month after being attacked.
However, Macron disagreed that the best way for Israel to “protect itself is with a massive bombing of Gaza,” saying this was creating “resentment and bad feelings” in the region that would prolong the conflict.
After a month of bombings and almost two weeks since Israel launched a major ground offensive in that territory, the Gaza Ministry of Health, led by Hamas, declared this Friday that 11,078 people diedwhile 1.5 million fled their homes.
Israel has declared it will begin daily four-hour military pauses in parts of northern Gaza as it continues its offensive. However, his Defense Minister stressed that the pauses would be “localized” and “they would not divert attention from the fighting.”
Ahead of a march against anti-Semitism on Sunday, which will be attended by a large part of the French political class, President Macron called on all French citizens to “unequivocally” condemn anti-Semitic acts.
He said that France had probably the largest Muslim community in Europe and also a large Jewish community, and with France and the rest of Europe seeing a huge rise in anti-Semitism, all French citizens had to be united against anti-Semitism. Semitism, and had to “share the pain or compassion of the Palestinians”.
The situation in Ukraine
Macron then addressed other issues of global interest, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In your opinion, If Russia manages to win the war, “there will be a new imperial power” in Europewhich could threaten other former Soviet states such as Georgia and Kazakhstan, as well as the entire continent.
“Because definitely what Russia is doing [en Ucrania] It’s imperialism and colonialism,” he said.
The French president stated that it was the “duty” of his country and all countries to support Ukraine in its defense. But he also said the next month would be critical in the battle to regain ground lost in its counter-offensive operations.
I assert that ““the time had not yet come for Ukraine to sit down at the negotiating table and stressed that the decision to reach an agreement was solely up to Kiev. But he added that the time may come to “have fair and positive negotiations, come to the table and find a solution with Russia.”
Extremism on the internet
Macron also spoke about extremism on the Internet, a key topic at the Paris Peace Forum.
He specifically pointed to Meta, the Facebooklike this Googlesuch as companies that “simply don’t keep” the promises they made to moderate hate speech on their platforms.
He stated that many online spaces They don’t have enough moderators for French content, which he described as “shame.” He promised to “put pressure on them,” although he said TikTok had improved the number of moderators for its French-language content.
And he claimed that climate change was causing terrorism in some parts of the world, specifically mentioning the effects of global warming on declining water levels in Lake Chad in West Africa.
“As a consequence of the climate changemany families who lived from fishing [sufrieron]…Many species have disappeared. And motivated policies [que] “They pushed a lot of people into terrorism.”
When asked if he ever felt overwhelmed by the many problems facing the world, Macron said he saw it as “an opportunity and an honor to have responsibilities.” [como jefe de Estado]”.
“We need international cooperation [para abordar los problemas mundiales]…This is a unique opportunity.”
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Source: Elcomercio
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
