Macron says Netanyahu must not forget Israel was created by UN decision

ISTANBUL

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a UN decision, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday, according to French media reports.

During a closed door meeting at the Elysee, Macron referenced a resolution passed by UN General Assembly in November 1947 regarding the partition of Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state.

Macron, who has called to stop the export of weapons to Israel for use in Gaza and Lebanon, warned that this is not the time to ignore UN decisions.

Despite international outcry and calls for cease-fire, Israel continues its offensives both in Gaza and Lebanon.

France has also condemned Israeli fire against UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.

'Not a UN decision'

In response to Macron's remarks, Netanyahu's office released a statement saying Israel was not established through a UN decision but after a "War of Independence."

"A reminder to the French President: It was not a UN decision that established the State of Israel but the victory that was achieved in the War of Independence with the blood of our heroic fighters, many of whom were Holocaust survivors, including from the Vichy regime in France," the prime minister's office said on X.

"It would also be worthwhile to recall that in recent decades, the UN has approved hundreds of antisemitic decisions against the State of Israel, the purpose of which is to deny the one and only Jewish state's right to exist and its ability to defend itself," it added.