PM Netanyahu meets with French President Emmanuel Macron

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today (Tuesday, 24 October 2023), at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, met with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Prime Minister Netanyahu:

"President Macron, Emmanuel, thank you for coming to Israel. Your support, that of your delegation, is highly appreciated.

On October 7th, Hamas waged war on Israel. It was the worst terrorist attack the world has known since 9/11, but for Israel proportionately, it was like twenty 9/11s.

It was the worst act of antisemitic violence since the Holocaust. I described to you some of the horrors. It’s impossible to describe all of them. But like Anne Frank, Jewish children hid in attics from these monsters and they were found and butchered. As in Babi Yar, Jews were machine-gunned in killing pits. Hamas butchered. Hamas beheaded. Hamas burned babies alive. Hamas raped. Hamas kidnapped hostages—over 200: babies, children, elderly, Holocaust survivors.

We are in a war between barbarism and civilization. Chancellor Scholz, who visited Israel, said that Hamas are the new Nazis. And as in the Second World War, when the Allies fully supported the French anti-Nazi Resistance, today the international community is uniting in support of Israel. For Hamas barbarism not only threatens the Jews, it threatens the Middle East, it threatens the region, it threatens Europe, it threatens the world. Hamas is the test case of civilization against barbarism.

Mr. President, you and the French people have known the horror of terrorism. You experienced it in Nice, in Lyon and Paris. You refused to tolerate this threat. And the people of Israel refuse to have ISIS in a terror enclave on its border.

I have to explain. This is not an enclave of ISIS thousands of kilometers away from Europe. It’s ISIS in the suburbs of Paris. You can drive 20 minutes and you reach the suburbs of Paris and you have ISIS there.

We cannot live like that. Nobody can live like that. So we are doing everything we need to do to destroy Hamas in Gaza. We will dismantle its terror machine. We will dismantle its political structure. We will make every effort to release our hostages. And we will make every effort to keep Palestinian civilians out of harm’s way.

It’s important to understand: Hamas is committing a double war crime. It’s not only murdering our civilians, targeting our civilians, doing unspeakable war crimes; they’re also hiding behind civilians, their own civilians. We asked the people of Gaza to leave, to go to a safe zone in the south where we’re enabling humanitarian aid to reach them; Hamas is putting checkpoints with people with guns to prevent Palestinians from leaving the war zone.

Hamas is responsible for civilian casualties, but we will do every effort to avoid them and to fight this war as speedily and as rapidly as we can. But it could be a long war.

When this is over, the people of Israel will rebuild their communities and the people of Gaza will no longer live under Hamas tyranny. But first, there is one condition, one condition for anything that could happen and the good things that could happen once this war is over, and that condition is that Hamas must be destroyed.

I thank you, Emmanuel, for coming here to Israel, for standing with Israel, for standing with us in Israel and expressing your support.

We rely on your continued support as this important battle for our future, our common future, proceeds till victory. Thank you."

French President Macron:

"Mr. Prime Minister, Dear Bibi, thank you for your words, and I want to thank you for the discussion we had together in tête-à-tête and with our delegation. I'm here to express our support, our solidarity, and our support for today, tomorrow, in all different fields of this battle against terrorism.

If you allow me I will say a few words in French.

[French]

I want to thank you Mr. Prime Minister, not just for your time, but because I'm lucid about the fact that this fight against terrorism is obviously matter of existence for Israel. But it's matter of existence for all of us. This is why we discussed together, and I just reminded this issue. But I consider that this is an international coalition in order to fight against this terrorist group that we have to build.

I just reminded my people in my language what we discussed. About fight against terrorism, humanitarian action, rules to be respected, but as well, political process. And obviously I warned against any escalation, and I warned Hezbollah and other regimes not to be part of what's happening.

We had a very precise discussion and I want to thank you for that. Now we will follow up this discussion in the coming hours in order to see what we can improve in the coming days, but I'm sure in the coming weeks and months.

I know how committed you are. Let me express again my solidarity, my friendship, and the fact that France stands with you in this awful terrorist acts you had to experience. We are with your people."

Prime Minister Netanyahu:

"Thank you, Emmanuel. 

Since you mentioned the regional aspects, let me say a word about that. There is a battle here between the Axis of Evil, led by Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthis, their minions who are fighting to bring back the Middle East [sic], the world to the early Middle Ages, with that kind of barbarism, with bondage, with slaughter, with murder. And there is the axis of the Free World and the moderates who want to bring the world to the progress and prosperity of the 21st century. This is the battle. It’s engaged now.

The test for the West and for civilization is Hamas. If Hamas emerges victorious, we will all lose. Europe will be in danger. Everyone will be in danger. Civilization will be in danger. If Hamas loses and is defeated, then the forces of civilization win.

That is why this battle is not merely our own. It’s Europe’s battle. It’s America’s battle it’s civilization’s battle. It’s the battle for the heart and soul and the future of the Middle East and the Arab world. I think many understand that, but there’s no going around the fact that we must have a decisive victory against Hamas. 

If Hezbollah makes the mistake of joining this war in a significant way, it will regret it. They will long for the Second Lebanon War, which they regretted. Because they’re embedding themselves, like Hamas, in the civilian population in Lebanon, we will have to take action against them. And the devastation against Hezbollah will be unimaginable. 

So I hope they heed your warning, our warning, the warning of the United States not to do so. But if they will, they’ll suffer horrible consequences. We have to join together and win. The forces of civilization, progress, have to win. That goes through the defeat of Hamas. 

I thank you, Emmanuel, for everything you said. Thank you for coming here and standing with us."