France warns Israel that it will replicate “with extreme firmness” if it applies reprisals
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has warned Israel on Monday that if he retaliates to his recognition from the Palestinian state, such as the closure of his embassy, he will replicate “with extreme firmness”.
Asked in an interview with the TF1 channel about that possibility that has been circulating for a few days, Barrot has stressed that “in no case is your interest. If such measures are taken, we will respond with extreme firmness. I hope we will not get there” and has insisted that the initiative of the recognition of the Palestinian State “concurs to the security of Israel.”
“Its application will be progressive and conditioned to elements on the ground, including the release of hostages,” said the head of French diplomacy.
Another of the conditions set by France to take steps in the concretion of this recognition is that the Palestinian National Authority (ANP), as has been committed, carry out a deep reform of its governance, and that there is a disarmament of Hamas, which would have to stop controlling Gaza, for which the help of allied Arab countries is also expected.
Barrot has justified the fact of not wanting to use the term genocide to call what is happening in Gaza with the Israeli military offensive with the argument that this issue corresponds to decide “to international jurisdictions, to the International Court of Justice, to the International Criminal Court (TPI)”. However, he has noticed that the UN report in which the term of genocide is used highlights the seriousness of the situation and is a call for “cessation” because “Gaza has become a place of death.”
The recognition of the Palestinian State for France will be realized with a speech this afternoon of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in New York, on the occasion of the opening of the UN General Assembly. On the eve of that speech, last night the Palestinian flag and the Israeli joined by a dove that carried in its peak an olive branch, symbol of peace. A projection in one of France’s most symbolic monuments in full controversy for the initiative of the Socialist Party, which has asked the municipalities that this Monday wave the Palestinian flag symbolically. An initiative to which the Interior Minister, conservative Bruno Retilleau responded, with a directive to ask for justice to act against the municipalities that do so, considering that this constitutes an act contrary to neutrality. (EFE)
