Macron the fall guy in Netanyahu's 'Israel alone' blame game

French leader has become Israeli Prime Minister's 'favourite global punching bag,' underlining gravity of Gaza and Lebanon situation

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and French President Emmanuel Macron at a joint press conference on October 24. Reuters

Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza

Tensions between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and French President Emmanuel Macron have reached new heights over Israel's military actions in Gaza and Lebanon, exposing a widening rift between the two allies.

Mr Macron said this week that he was "not sure that one can defend civilisation by spreading barbarity" as a critique of Mr Netanyahu's claims of a "just war".

For his part, Mr Netanyahu posted a conversation on social media where he trenchantly expressed disappointment at the French leader's calls to stop weapons exports to Israel. The war of words is worsening after a year of tensions over the high death toll of civilians in Gaza and Lebanon.

"Emmanuel Macron has become Benjamin Netanyahu's favourite global punching bag," Rym Momtaz, editor in chief of Carnegie Europe’s blog Strategic Europe, told The National. "Netanyahu uses Macron as a way to drive home, with his own domestic audience, this erroneous concept of Israel being alone against the whole world."

Relations were not always bad. After the Hamas-led attacks against Israel last year, Mr Macron stood firmly beside Mr Netanyahu.

Israel has made parallels between the October 7 assault and past ISIS attacks on European soil. In the aftermath Mr Macron suggested setting up an international coalition against Hamas – an idea that was widely questioned and never implemented.

But before the end of 2023 Mr Macron's tone had shifted. The French leader told the BBC that Israel had to stop killing women and children in Gaza. The death toll at the time was already more than 11,000. It stands today at more than 42,800.

Those comments were noted in Israel. "Things haven't got better, and I think partly it's because Netanyahu isn't listening to anyone," Ms Momtaz said – a reference to Mr Netanyahu brushing off concerns also expressed by his most important ally, US President Joe Biden.

But the most humiliating moment for French diplomacy was probably Mr Netanyahu's turnaround at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) gatherings in New York in September, when he reportedly reneged on a promise to accept a 21-day truce in Lebanon negotiated by France and the US.

Instead, Mr Netanyahu greenlighted the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut in a strike that destroyed six apartment buildings and injured 91 people.

The escalation has been expected since Hezbollah had intensified its cross-border attacks against Israel in solidarity with Hamas. But France, which has historic ties with Lebanon as a former colonial power, had hoped to avert it.

Israel-Gaza war one year on - in pictures

Mr Netanyahu's defiance at UNGA was perceived as disloyal by France, Ms Momtaz said. It also prompted fears that the Lebanese state, already weakened by a financial crisis, may collapse entirely.

This may increase pressure on local populations, including Syrians, encouraging them to find an escape route to the EU, which is in the process of introducing tough legislation to deter arrivals.

"Netanyahu made them [France and the US] look like fools," Ms Momtaz said.

At UNGA, Mr Macron had given a speech calling on those who support both Israel and Hezbollah's military war effort to stop. A week later, he went one step further, saying that weapons exports to Israel should cease if they are used in Gaza – in an apparent reference to the US.

France also summoned its Israeli ambassador after Israel injured a number of UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon.

Despite a flurry of phone calls between the two leaders, in which Mr Macron reiterated France's attachment to Israel's security, tensions have continued to grow and have impacted local politics in France.

One week after cabinet members leaked comments to the press made by Mr Macron urging Mr Netanyahu to stop attacking the UN because his country owes its existence to a UN Resolution, relations were further strained by Mr Macron's reference to Israel's "barbarity" in a speech delivered in front of representatives of more than 50 countries at a conference in Paris to support Lebanon.

Israel's ambassador to France described his words as a "political mistake", while France's most influential Jewish organisation said that they had hurt France's Jewish population – the largest in Europe.

"The outrageous words used by the President of the Republic make a symbolic parallel between the real barbarians of Hamas and Hezbollah, who massacred, mutilated and raped civilian populations, with the response of a democracy under attack," said the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF) on X.

"The deterioration of the personal relationship between the President of the Republic and the Israeli Prime Minister, which is obvious to everyone, cannot justify these remarks," added the CRIF.

Mr Netanyahu is successfully manipulating French domestic politics at little political cost, said Ms Momtaz.

The war in Gaza has been a polarising topic among French political parties, with the left calling for a hard line against Israel, while the right and far-right have defended its actions.

The left has recently also tried to ban a pro-Israel gala that hard-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is due to attend on November 13.

France officially condemned Mr Smotrich's statements in August suggesting it might be justified to let the people of Gaza starve to death.

"There's a standoff there," Ms Momtaz said. "There is an unsolvable difference of perspective and opinion, but France will remain Israel's ally. That is not going to change, even if it's a difficult relationship right now."

The next topic of tensions between Israel and France is expected to be a military naval trade show – Euronaval – scheduled to take place in Paris from November 4 to 7.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that he had ordered legal proceedings against the French President for banning Israeli companies that sell weapons used in Gaza and Lebanon due to concerns that they may have been used to commit war crimes.

Paris is unaware of legal proceedings taking place, a spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs Ministry said on Friday. Checks on Israeli companies wanting to participate in Euronaval are being conducted by the Defence Ministry.

In parallel, campaigners filed a legal notice requesting that the organisers' of the conference justify within eight days what measures they have taken to check that Israeli companies are not involved in potential war crimes.

"We ask the organisers to take measures banning all Israeli companies and delegations from the show," a spokesperson for the NGO coalition told The National. "It appears very complicated to establish whether weapons may be used in Gaza and Lebanon or not."