French President Emmanuel Macron warned at a news briefing Tuesday that the threat from Hamas is “a matter of existence for all of us.”
Speaking at a joint news briefing with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his office in Jerusalem, the French leader said, “This fight against terrorism is obviously a matter of existence for Israel, but it’s a matter of existence for all of us.
“I consider that it is an international coalition in order to fight against this terror group that we have to build,” Macron said, adding that he has warned Hezbollah in Lebanon in “very clear messages” not to get involved in the current conflict.
“Hamas barbarism not only threatens the Jews, it threatens the Middle East, it threatens the region, it threatens Europe, it threatens the world. Hamas is the test case of civilization against barbarism,” Netanyahu emphasized in his remarks.
The prime minister noted that the atrocities perpetrated on their Israeli victims by the Hamas invaders on October 7 constitute “the worst act of antisemitic violence since the Holocaust.”
Netanyahu stopped several times before taking a breath to describe the scenes encountered by Israeli security and rescue personnel, saying it was “impossible to describe” all of what was found.
“But like Anne Frank, Jewish children hid in attics from these monsters, and they were found and butchered. As in Babi Yar, Jews were machine-gunned in killing pits. Hamas butchered. Hamas beheaded. Hamas burned babies alive. Hamas raped. Hamas kidnapped hostages—over 200: babies, children, elderly, Holocaust survivors,” he said.
“We are in a war between barbarism and civilization. Chancellor Scholz, who visited Israel, said that Hamas are the new Nazis. And as in the Second World War, when the Allies fully supported the French anti-Nazi Resistance, today the international community is uniting in support of Israel. For Hamas barbarism not only threatens the Jews, it threatens the Middle East, it threatens the region, it threatens Europe, it threatens the world. Hamas is the test case of civilization against barbarism.
“This is not an enclave of ISIS thousands of kilometers away from Europe. It’s ISIS in the suburbs of Paris. You can drive 20 minutes and you reach the suburbs of Paris, and you have ISIS there,” Netanyahu explained.
“We cannot live like that. Nobody can live like that.”
Macron, who met earlier with President Isaac Herzog, was slated to speak with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid and National Camp leader Benny Gantz before heading to a meeting with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas.
