Monday, December 4, 2023

Macron Claims Eliminating Hamas Would Take Israel ‘Ten Years’, Calls for Ceasefire and Two-State Talks

French President Emmanuel Macron once again criticised Israel’s military efforts against the Islamist Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip and warned that it would take a decade to fully eradicate the terrorist organisation from the region.

Speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations climate change conference in Dubai on Saturday, President Macron questioned Israel’s stated goal of whipping out the Hamas terrorists who have controlled Gaza since a bloody coup in 2007 and who were behind the barbaric October 7th attacks in Israel that saw over 1,200 people, mostly civilians, killed and 240 kidnapped.

In response to the attacks and the recent breaking of a seven-day truce by Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Saturday to deliver a “total victory” over Hamas to eliminate the terror threat in Gaza. Questioning the strategy, Macron said: “If that’s [the objective], the war will last ten years”.

The French president went on to call on Jerusalem to ensure that its “objective is clarified” to prevent an “endless war,” Le Figaro reported.

Macron also questioned Israel’s military tactics, saying that “the right response against a terrorist group is not to eliminate an entire territory or bomb the entire civilian capacity” and that “the good fight against terrorism is not systematic and permanent bombing.”

He said that the “sustainable security” of Israel was at risk if the military action against the terrorists “comes at the cost of Palestinian lives, and therefore the resentment of all public opinion in the region”. Therefore, Macron said that it is necessary to “redouble efforts to achieve a lasting ceasefire, to obtain the release of all the hostages still held by Hamas and to bring to the people of Gaza the aid they urgently need.” READ MORE