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Call for arms embargo on Israel is just the latest act in Macron’s ‘zigzag diplomacy’

13 1
10.10.2024

France's President Emmanuel Macron waits at the presidential Elysee Palace, in Paris on Oct. 7.ALAIN JOCARD/AFP/Getty Images

On Monday, many of France’s leading political figures gathered with members of the Jewish community in a Paris arena to mark the first anniversary of the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust. Emmanuel Macron was conspicuously absent from the event to commemorate the victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel. But the mere mention of the French President’s name drew loud boos from the audience.

Two days earlier, Mr. Macron had angered supporters of Israel around the world by calling for a halt to arms shipments to the Jewish state as it wages a multifront war against its enemies in the Middle East.

The French Leader said the ban would only apply to weapons used by Israel “to carry out combat in Gaza.” But the precision amounted to a distinction without a difference; it would be nearly impossible for arms suppliers to apply a Gaza-only ban without imposing a blanket arms embargo on Israel. Mr. Macron surely knew that.

What made Mr. Macron’s declaration seem even more self-serving was the fact that France sells almost no weapons to Israel, which imports 99........

© The Globe and Mail


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