Macron slams his ministers, media over leaked remarks on Israel’s establishment

BRUSSELS — France’s president on Thursday accused some of his ministers of lacking professionalism and spreading false information, while taking a swipe at the media over how they reported comments he allegedly made on Israel during a cabinet meeting.

In the latest sign of his political frustration, a visibly angry Emmanuel Macron berated journalists over comments they had reported suggesting he had brought into question the creation of Israel at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday and denied he had made the remarks.

“I must tell you how astonished I was to read so many comments, reactions, including from foreign or French political leaders to remarks that I allegedly made without asking the question of what they were saying and what exactly I said,” he said at a press conference after a European Council meeting in Brussels.

“There is therefore no ambiguity. All those who would like to make it exist through this type of manipulation are not only mistaken, but are hurting some people and weakening France,” he said. “France has always stood by Israel,” the leader continued, adding that France and its people hold the existence and security of Israel in high regard.

According to participants, Macron told a French cabinet meeting this week that, “Mr Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a decision of the UN,” referring to the resolution adopted in November 1947 by the United Nations General Assembly on the plan to partition Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state.

“Therefore this is not the time to disregard the decisions of the UN,” he reportedly added, amid concern over Israeli fire on UNIFIL peacekeepers in southern Lebanon. Israel has said that UNIFIL is not its target as it strives to dismantle Hezbollah’s infrastructure, and Netanyahu urged the peacekeeping force to withdraw from the area while the IDF was operating there.

The reported comments led to a vitriolic response from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who linked them to the Vichy government that had collaborated with Nazi Germany. “A reminder to the president of France: It was not the UN resolution that established the State of Israel, but rather the victory achieved in the War of Independence with the blood of heroic fighters, many of whom were Holocaust survivors — including from the Vichy regime in France,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

“All this is proof, in essence, of a breakdown in public debate and a lack of professionalism on the part of ministers who repeated distorted statements, of journalists who took them up, of commentators who did not dwell on the reality and veracity of such statements,” Macron said on Thursday.

“If words that are reported, truncated and distorted are put in quotation marks, there is no point in holding press conferences or answering your questions.”

Macron has faced a tough few months since deciding to dissolve parliament earlier this year after a crushing defeat in European elections. The ensuing legislative elections left parliament divided into three political blocs and his party badly defeated.

Without a government for several months, the French leader in the end opted to pick up center-right politician Michel Barnier as prime minister despite his party finishing sixth in the vote.

The new government has left Macron scrambling to save the last 2-1/2 years of his mandate having seen his power dwindle and influence over ministers from opposing parties and his own camp curtailed.