Israel PM ‘mustn’t forget his country created by UN decision,' says Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday told his cabinet that he has asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to forget that his country was created as a result of a resolution adopted by the United Nations. 

Tensions have increased between Netanyahu and Macron with the French leader last week insisting that stopping the export of weapons used by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon was the only way to stop the conflicts.

France has also repeatedly denounced Israeli fire against UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, who include a French contingent.

“Mr Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a decision of the UN,” Macron told the weekly French cabinet meeting, 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 added, as Israel wages a ground offensive against the Iran-backed group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where the UN peacekeepers are deployed.

Earlier, Italian PM Meloni annouced to visit war-hit Lebanon in a rare visit following attack on the UN peacekeepers in Lebanon. 

“It is already planned that I will go to Lebanon,” she told the Senate, without giving a date.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani will be heading to Israel and the Palestinian territories next week, Meloni added.

UNIFIL, a United Nations mission of about 9,500 troops of various nationalities created following Israel’s 1978 invasion of Lebanon, has accused the Israeli military of “deliberately” firing on its positions.