Reuters
France's President Emmanuel Macron. [Photo Credit: Reuters]
France’s President Emmanuel Macron dismissed US President Donald Trump’s claims of having secured peace in Gaza, saying not a single humanitarian corridor had been reopened in the enclave despite the proclaimed peace.
In his final address to the United Nations before leaving office next year, Macron said the world was witnessing a spectacle that should shame everyone, rebuking Trump’s portrayal of his Gaza peace plan as a diplomatic triumph.
He spoke at the United Nations General Assembly hours after Trump had from the same rostrum hailed his Gaza peace plan as a diplomatic triumph.
In response to Macron’s criticism, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said: “President Trump ended the war between Israel and Hamas, freed all living hostages, returned the bodies of the deceased to their loved ones, and is now leading the implementation of the 20-Point Plan for Peace in Gaza. While others talk, this President took this complex problem head on. No one has done more for peace and stability in the region.”
Macron has faced criticism among some politicians and activists in France that he has done little since recognising a Palestinian state last September.
Despite the criticism, Paris has toughened its stance on settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, imposing some national sanctions and launching a process to ban products from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
France’s ties with Israel have been particularly strained over the last year. Macron said those who believed that violating the sovereignty of all of Israel’s neighbors would ensure its security were mistaken.
Seven months from France’s next presidential election, Macron was making his last appearance after first taking to the rostrum in 2017.
Often showing a keen eye for the trappings of diplomacy — the grand settings, the symbolism, the personal connections — he has at the same time failed to translate this into lasting strategic gains, analysts say.
However, he has always been a staunch defender of the multilateral system and the United Nations.
Macron warned against a global “return to the law of the jungle”, saying countries faced a choice between a world governed by power and coercion and a “civilized international society.”
