Netanyahu to Macron: We need to get Iran out of Syria
The biggest threat to the world today is nuclear weapons in the hands of a radical Islamic regime like Iran,
PARIS— The biggest threat to the world today is nuclear weapons in the hands of a radical Islamic regime like Iran, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday evening after meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris for the third times in one year.
During the meeting, the two leaders discussed Iran’s nuclear program as well as challenges posed to Israel by the Iranian military presence in Syria.
‘’The nuclear archive that we uncovered recently proved that Iran lied to the world about its nuclear weapons program and I believe now is the time to apply maximum pressure on Iran to make sure that their nuclear program doesn’t go anywhere,’’ Netanyahu told in a joint press statement with President Macron.
The Israeli premier added however that he had not asked Macron that France back out of the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
“I want to make it clear that I did not ask President Macron to leave the deal. I think that economic realities are going to decide this matter. So that’s not what we focussed on. What I focused on is to stop Iranian aggression in the region,” Netanyahu said.
“Israel’s goal, which I think should be shared by all those who seek peace, prosperity and stability in the Middle East is a reconstructed Syria and the precursor to that is that Iran leaves Syria. All of Syria. it has no business being there,” he added
‘’We must block Iran’s plans to transport its army and its weapons, sophisticated and deadly weapons to Syria, from which they seek to attack Israel.’’
Netanyahu then spoke about the Gaza violence, countering President Macron’s criticism of the move of the United States Embassy to Jerusalem in May, which he said had “caused loss of life” and did “not help the peace process.”
‘’These are violent riots that are organized by Hamas. They’re using human shields to move their terrorists in place, they want to kidnap Israelis, they want to murder Israelis,’’ he said.
‘’These protests are paid by Hamas, organized by Hamas, they’re paid by Hamas and they are seeking to storm into Israel, capture civilians or soldiers right next to the fence, within meters of the fence, of the border fence, they burn our fields. These are not civilians.’’
He added : ‘’Oone day which had the greatest amount of casualties – there were 62 casualties – Hamas openly said there were 50 of the 62 were Hamas terrorists. We have their names, we have their photographs.’’
He stressed that Israel has a right to defend itself. ‘’We seek to do it in non-lethal means and we’re not successful because Hamas wants these people killed.’’
‘’Just imagine that you had the equivalent of about 20 million people who are governed by a tyrannical terrorist regime who want to storm into France, they say: We want to enter France, we want to destroy France, we want to burn Paris down and when we cross the border into France we’ll kill any French citizen that we can get our hands on. Obviously, you would act in every way possible to prevent this from happening and this is exactly what Israel is doing,’’ the Israeli Prime Minister declared.
In his statement, President Macron reiterated his concern over the events in Gaza over the last weeks. ‘’We condemn all forms of violence against civilians. We insist, we are committed to the security of Israel and we condemn all forms of expression to incite violence committed by certain groups and I am thinking of Hamas,’’ he said.
Immediately after their statement, both Macron and Netanyahu went to the Grand Palais to inaugurate an exhibit on Israeli innovations, as part of the opening of the France-Israel season of events commemorating the 70th anniversary of Israel’s founding.
A few dozen protesters appeared on the city’s Champs-Elysees Avenue near the exhibit site to demand the cancellation of the events and to denounce what they called Israel’s “war crimes.”
Netanyahu was in Paris as part of a three-day European tour aimed at persuading Germany, France, and the United Kingdom to agree to tougher measures against Iran. He met Monday in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
On Wednesday, he will head to London for a meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May.