Netanyahu told Macron that restricting Israel would empower Iran

(Patria) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone with French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday, his office said, and told him that imposing restrictions on Israel would only serve Iran and its proxy forces, Reuters reported.

Macron said on Saturday that arms deliveries to Israel used in the Gaza war should be halted as part of broader efforts to find a political solution to the conflict.

“Just as Iran supports all parts of the Iranian terror axis, so too are Israel’s friends expected to support it and not impose restrictions that will only strengthen the Iranian axis of evil,” Netanyahu told Macron, according to a statement from his office.

Israel has sharply escalated its attacks on the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, following a year of lower-level cross-border conflict waged in parallel with Israel’s war against the Iran-backed Palestinian Hamas, following the latter’s attacks on October 7.

The Israeli government says the goal is to enable Israelis to return to their homes in northern Israel, after being evacuated amid Hezbollah rocket fire that began on October 8 last year.

“The Prime Minister emphasized that Israel’s actions against Hezbollah are creating an opportunity to change the reality in Lebanon for better stability, security and peace throughout the region,” the statement said.

The two leaders agreed to maintain dialogue on the issue during a visit by the French Foreign Minister to Israel on Monday, Netanyahu’s office said.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot is on a four-day trip to the Middle East. Paris is seeking to revive diplomatic efforts as the Gaza war has spread to Lebanon.

Macron told radio France Inter on Saturday that the priority is “to return to a political solution and that the weapons used to fight in Gaza be stopped. France sends nothing.”

“Our priority is now to avoid escalation. The Lebanese people must not be sacrificed, Lebanon must not become another Gaza,” he added.

France is not a major supplier of arms to Israel, delivering military equipment worth 30 million euros last year, according to the Ministry of Defence’s annual report on arms exports.