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French President Emmanuel Macron, who is in Israel, on Tuesday called for the expansion of the international coalition which is fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria, to also fight Hamas, while urging for "decisive relaunch" of the Palestinian peace process.
"You are not alone," he said during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Macron also called for the international coalition which is already fighting against the Islamic State group (ISIS) to be expanded to fight Hamas after the October 7 assault on Israel, Times of Israel reported. He said that countries fighting ISIS "should also fight against Hamas", further stressing that there must be a "decisive relaunch" of the Palestinian peace process following the Hamas atrocities and Israel's declaration of war against the terror group. "I propose the coalition against Islamic State [ISIL-ISIS] also fight Hamas. France is ready for the international coalition against Daesh - in which we are taking part for operations in Iraq and Syria - to also fight against Hamas," Al Jazeera quoted Macron as saying. Macron also told Netanyahu that stability in the Middle East will only be achieved if Israel allows for a "political approach to the conflict with the Palestinians". The terror attack carried out by Hamas on Israel killed over 1400 people, which included at least 30 French people, according to Al Jazeera. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing the ongoing Israel-Hamas war alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, drew a parallel between the Hamas attack on October 7 and the Holocaust. In his speech, he referenced historical tragedies like Babyn Yar and Anne Frank to highlight the atrocities committed. "On October 7, Hamas waged war on Israel. It was the worst terrorist attack the world has known since 9/11, but for Israel, proportionately, it was like twenty 9/11s. It was the worst act of anti-Semitic violence since the holocaust" Benjamin Netanyahu said. "It's impossible to describe all of the horrors, 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" he added. "Hamas butchered, Hamas beheaded Hamas burned babies alive. Hamas raped, Hamas kidnapped - hostages, over 200 - babies, children, elderly, Holocaust survivors. We are in a war between barbarism and civilization" Netanyahu added.Further, Netanyahu contended that Hamas's actions pose a threat not only to Jews but also to the Middle East, Europe, and the world at large.The Israeli PM branded Gaza as "an enclave of ISIS." Macron is the latest in a series of Western leaders who made a solidarity visit to Israel after the October 7 attacks by Hamas. However, he would be the first to visit the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the West Bank amid the crisis, as he is expected to meet his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Tuesday Upon his arrival in Israel, to express his country's "full solidarity" with the Jewish state following the October 7 massacres by Palestinian terror group Hamas, he met his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog. After this the French President reached Tel Aviv, and met with families of French and French-Israeli nationals killed in the Hamas attack or being held hostage by terrorists in Gaza. (ANI)
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