Difficult conversation | Macron to Netanyahu: Show responsibility and prevent escalation

A very difficult conversation took place this week between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and French President Emmanuel Macron amid the escalation in the north. The main points of the conversation were published on Friday evening on Channel 12 News.

According to the report, it was Macron who initiated the conversation, and sources familiar with the details said that he criticized Netanyahu and told him, "You have a responsibility to prevent escalation. There is a diplomatic path. This is the moment to show leadership and responsibility. Your activity in the north is pushing the region to war."

Netanyahu replied, "Instead of putting pressure on us, it's time for you to put pressure on Hezbollah. We will return our residents home. This is a decision we made this week and we will implement it."

A French diplomatic source quoted by Channel 12 News stressed, "We are still convinced that a diplomatic settlement in the north is possible, if all parties show responsibility. The latest security developments are worrying because it feeds a new dynamic of escalation."

Sources in Jerusalem said, "You, the French, will do what you still think you can in the diplomatic context, and we will do what we must."

Macron last month told Netanyahu to "avoid a cycle of reprisals" in the Middle East in a conversation which took place following the eliminations of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.

The French presidency said at the time it was imperative to prevent all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah.

"Faced with rising tensions on the border between Israel and Lebanon, every effort must be made... to avoid a regional conflagration," said the French presidency, stressing that "a war between Israel and Lebanon would have destructive consequences for the entire region".

Previously, Macron spoke to Netanyahu and urged him to prevent a "conflagration" between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Macron "reiterated his serious concern over a deepening of tensions between Hezbollah and Israel... and underscored the absolute need to prevent a conflagration that would harm the interests of Lebanon as well as Israel," the French presidency said in a statement following that conversation.

While Macron visited Israel near the start of the war with Hamas and expressed support for its right to defend itself from Hamas, he has also been critical of Israel at times.

In an interview with the BBC in November, the French President said that Israel "should stop killing women and babies in Gaza".

Netanyahu responded to the French President's comments in a press conference with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister Benny Gantz, saying that Macron "made a grave error" and adding, "We don't need these moral lectures."

A French political official later rejected Netanyahu's criticism, clarifying that Macron "has not changed his position" on Israeli action against Hamas but believes that Israel can and should do more to prevent harm to Palestinian Arab civilians in Gaza.

(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)