MARSEILLE, France (CN) — In a recent private meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron told his cabinet that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “mustn’t forget his country was created by a U.N. decision … and therefore this is not the time to break away from U.N. decisions.”
The statement was relayed from someone in the room to Agence France-Presse and quickly made headlines. Netanyahu was quick to issue a response.
“It was not the U.N. 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,” he said.
In recent weeks, there has been a noticeable shift in Macron’s stance on Israel. France has condemned shootings directed at United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon. The nation also announced it would ban Israel from a naval arms show from Monday through Thursday, which officials deemed a disgrace. French courts ruled that Israel could attend.
“I spoke with President Macron and I was extremely disappointed,” Netanyahu told the French news channel Europe 1. “He supported us at the beginning of the war, but little by little, I saw that he was changing his position and taking positions against our common interests, the interests of free societies.”
Before Hamas’ attack on Israel last fall, Netanyahu visited France several times, and Macron was vocal in supporting his policies. The same was true in the attack’s immediate aftermath.
“If we just go back to a little over a year ago to Oct. 7, 2023, we saw that Emmanuel Macron had very firmly condemned the Hamas attack, and gave his very clear support to Israel by explaining that Israel had the right to defend itself,” Marc Hecker, the deputy director of the French Institute of International Relations, told Courthouse News. “And also explaining that France stood alongside the country to fight against terrorism.”
“He had even made a proposal that had surprised many at the time, both the specialists on the subject and France’s partners, which was to create an anti-Hamas coalition on the model of the anti-ISIS coalition that had been created by the United States in 2014,” Hecker said.
Macron remained on the same line as Netanyahu, and avoided criticizing Israel’s strategy for months. Multiple factors may have prompted him to change his stance since then.
The Action on Armed Violence estimates that there have been over 30,000 civilian deaths in Gaza, though this number is likely much higher. In opinion polls, public support for Israel’s war in Gaza is dropping, while condemnation is rising.
“The French position began to evolve as the number of civilians killed increased sharply in Gaza; Emmanuel Macron reiterated his support for Israel, but explained that it did not mean that it was a blank check to react in any way in Gaza,” Hecker said. “He insisted on the need to protect civilians, to respect international law, and to provide humanitarian aid; Macron called for a cease-a-fire in Gaza as early as November 2023.”
Agnès Levallois, vice president of the Institute of Research and Studies of the Mediterranean Middle East and author of “Le Livre Noir de Gaza” (“The Black Book of Gaza”), argues that although it will be increasingly harder to support Israel’s position in Gaza the longer the war goes on, Macron’s maneuvering is more closely linked to Israel’s strategy in Lebanon.
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Macron was pushing for a cease-fire in Lebanon, which Netanyahu rejected during a U.N. General Assembly meeting. In October, Macron hosted an international aid summer for Lebanon in France that raised $1 billion. There were more than 70 heads of state present to show solidarity with Lebanon.
France has far-reaching ties historical ties to the country.
“France exercised a mandate over Lebanon, and participated in the creation of this Lebanese state in the ’20s, ’30s,” Levallois told Courthouse News. “So there is this tradition which consists of saying that France is there to protect the Christians of the East, and in particular the Lebanese Christian community.”
Despite Macron sparking controversy on both sides over the past few months, being criticized as both too pro-Israeli and too pro-Palestinian, Hecker maintains that the president is taking a stance in line with his nation’s tradition.
“I think he is trying to adopt a line that is not simple, but which is quite typical of Emmanuel Macron and quite constant in French diplomacy, which is a line of respect for international law and reminding of the importance of the two-state solution,” Hecker said. “Macron is also very attached to the fight against terrorism. This means a clear opposition to a group like Hamas, for example, but also respect for a certain number of rules and values in the way in which we use weapons, and in particular the way of waging a war.”
Before the Nicolas Sarkozy era, France had a leniency that was more pro-Palestinian than today.
Hecker cited France’s “Arab policy” under General Charles de Gaulle, meaning that France was traditionally closer to Arab countries. He said some people think Macron is trying to get closer to the Arab world again in a Gaullian posture. Regardless of Macron’s intentions, Hecker said, it’s true that the French position has evolved significantly since the creation of Israel.
“France was first very close to Israel from 1948 until the Six Day War in 1967,” Hecker said. “Then there was indeed a very clear deterioration in relations under General de Gaulle with what was called France’s Arab policy, which actually began a little before the Six Day War of 1967— the end of the Algerian War in 1962 was a turning point.”
During and post-Sarkozy — who was the French president from 2007 to 2012 — France took a more pro-Israeli stance. And experts argue that the increasing tension between Macron and Netanyahu will not likely leave a lasting impact.
“Relations are still good anyway, even if there is a bit of a crisis at the moment, but I remain convinced that it is a bit of diplomatic agitation and fundamentally does not call the relations between the two countries into question,” Levallois said. “There is, as they say, a cold snap, but I don’t think it’ll go very very far.”