Israeli Prime Minister in Paris to press Macron on Iran

In an effort to win cooperation against Iran’s nuclear programme, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday. However, the meeting will be overshadowed by an increase in Israeli aggression against Palestinians.

The two would talk about “the international effort to stop the Iranian nuclear programme,” according to Israel’s embassy in Paris.

Netanyahu hopes that the crackdown on domestic protests and the fact that Iran gave Russian invaders in Ukraine drones will convince Western allies to stop trying to bring back the 2015 nuclear deal.

According to the prime minister, Israel is moving away from its more neutral position on the conflict in hopes of a more confrontational Western position toward Iran. Israel is also thinking about sending military aid to Ukraine.

According to David Khalfa of the Paris-based think tank Fondation Jean Jaures, Netanyahu is “playing the Ukraine card” in an effort to “consolidate an anti-Iranian front” with the West.

Khalfa also said that he wants “increased sanctions against Tehran and the full addition of the Revolutionary Guards to the list” of sanctioned groups. However, France and Germany have so far been against this.

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Iran has long been charged by Israel with wanting nuclear weapons. Tehran maintains that the sole purpose of its nuclear programme is to produce energy.

Netanyahu runs a risk by supporting Ukraine because Russian air defences stationed in neighbouring Syria could be used against Israeli aircraft that occasionally conduct raids on Iranian interests there.

According to an AFP diplomatic source, France concurs that “firmness” is required in interactions with Iran because of its nuclear program’s “dangerous point” and its involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.

Netanyahu’s visit follows a weekend drone attack on a defence ministry building in the Iranian city of Isfahan, which Tel Aviv has claimed was carried out by Israel.

Although Israel has not verified this, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal have reported that the attack was carried out by the Israeli intelligence organisation Mossad, citing unnamed officials.

The French president would also “reiterate (to Netanyahu) the need for all sides to avoid steps likely to fuel the cycle of violence” in the occupied Palestinian territories, according to Macron’s office, while expressing what he called “France’s solidarity with Israel in the face of terrorism.”

Following a murder on Thursday in which Israeli soldiers killed nine Palestinians in Jenin, Israel has been held responsible for a dramatic uptick in violence in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.

Following the murderous shooting, a Palestinian opened fire outside a synagogue in the occupied east Jerusalem settlement of Neve Yaacov, killing seven Israelis.

Since March 2022, at least 220 Palestinians have perished in murderous Israeli raids on West Bank communities, with 36 of them dying only in January.