Force alone will not lead to Israel’s security, France says, by Reuters

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s security cannot be guaranteed by military force alone and will require a diplomatic solution, France’s foreign minister said on Monday, and Paris will continue efforts to secure a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Speaking at the end of a four-day tour of the Middle East, Jean-Noel Barrot was in Israel on Monday to mark one year since Palestinian Islamist militants Hamas entered Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking back about 250 hostages in Gaza.

The attack triggered an Israeli military campaign in Gaza that has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s health ministry. The war has spread conflict across the region, with Israel stepping up military operations across its northern border in Lebanon against Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas.

“Force alone cannot guarantee Israel’s security, your security. Military success cannot be a substitute for political perspective,” Barrot told a news conference in Jerusalem.

“To bring the hostages home to their loved ones, to allow the displaced to return home to the north (of Israel), after a year of war, the time for diplomacy has come.”

Barrot’s arrival in Israel, home to some 180,000 French citizens, came at a difficult time in Franco-Israeli relations after President Emmanuel Macron was strongly rejected by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the weekend.

Macron has called for a de facto arms embargo on Israel and, in a veiled attack on the US, said countries that have provided weapons and called for a ceasefire if they are used in conflict are incoherent. French arms deliveries to Israel are minimal.

Barrot reiterated that it was strange to call for a ceasefire while handing out offensive weapons. He said that France, as a staunch defender of Israel’s security, felt it was vital to be honest about the ongoing suffering of civilians in Gaza, but also about the military operation now in southern Lebanon.

France collaborated with the United States in an attempt to secure a ceasefire in Lebanon at the end of September. Diplomatic sources believed at the time that this secured a temporary truce, a day before Israel heavily bombed the southern suburbs of Beirut, killing longtime Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

“We have a responsibility to act today to avoid Lebanon finding itself in the short term in a dramatic situation, as Syria found itself a few years ago,” Barrot said.

Ceasefire proposals put forward with Washington remain on the table, he said.