Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, May 14th, accused French President Emmanuel Macron of siding with a “murderous Islamist terrorist organisation” after Macron criticised Israel’s blocking of aid to Gaza.
“Macron has once again chosen to stand with a murderous Islamist terrorist organisation and echo its despicable propaganda, accusing Israel of blood libels,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.
“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,” it added. “Israel will not stop and will not surrender.”
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Macron accused Netanyahu’s government of “unacceptable” and “shameful” behaviour over its aid blockade on Gaza, which has been in force since March 2.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday also denounced Macron’s comments.
“We remember well what happened to the Jews in France when they couldn’t defend themselves. President Macron should not preach morality to us,” Katz said in a statement.
The Israeli military “operates with the highest moral standards under difficult and complex circumstances—certainly more so than France has done in its past wars,” he added. A recently released report details how the terrorist group Hamas uses Gazans as human shields and why this creates such a huge problem for Israel in trying to defeat Hamas and release its hostages.
