In an interview on French public tv channel France 2 about France’s position on the military escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, Barnier recalled that he himself went to the kibbutzim a few months ago at the time of the October 7 massacre in southern Israel.

 

”The question of Israel’s security, which has been attacked to the core, Israel’s ability to defend itself, is non-negotiable,’’ declared Sunday new French Prime Minister Michel Barnier.

In an Interview on French public tv channel France 2 about France’s position on the military escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, Barnier recalled that he himself went to the kibbutzim a few months ago at the time of the October 7 massacres in southern Israel.

He added that now ‘’we need to find ways of stopping this escalation.’’

‘’I’ve been thinking the same thing for a long time – I said it when I was a minister, I was very much involved in this question of Israel and Palestine when I was Foreign Minister – that when this escalation is finally stopped, we need to find a way of offering the Palestinian people the prospect of a Palestinian state to live in peace, with lasting and definitive recognition of Israel’s security and territorial integrity ‘’

A former European Commissioner in Brussels who negotiated the ‘Brexit’, Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, Conservative Barnier was appointed Prime Minister  by President Emmanuel Macron earlier this month.

On Saturday, he unveiled his government  that aims to strike a fine balance between right-wingers and centrists to break political deadlock following snap elections last June.

According to journalist and political commentator Michael Darmon, Michel Barnier showed great empathy when he visited wounded Israelis shortly after the massacre on October 7, 2023.

On February 7, as he was sitting with families of hostages at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv he wrote on X: ”A moment of humanity through music… In Tel Aviv, alongside the families of the victims and the 132 Hamas hostages after the terrorist attack on October 7. Together, here on the hostage plaza, as in Paris at Les Invalides, it is France’s honor to stand in solidarity.”

‘’No doubt he will be keen to express his feelings at the ceremonies marking the first year of the pogrom in southern Israel. The Prime Minister has promised “changes and ruptures”. It remains to be seen whether the Middle East will be the first place where he will express a departure from the usual discourse of the French presidency and French diplomacy,’’ said Darmon. T

Traditionally in France, foreign policy is a domain reserved to the President while the Prime Minister deals with internal political matters.  .