11/25/2024–|Last updated: 11/25/202411:11 AM (Mecca time)
Le Parisien newspaper said that former French Prime Ministers Elizabeth Bourne and Dominique de Villepin spoke in a heated discussion on French Channel 2 about the situation in the Middle East and in Ukraine, and they disagreed about France’s diplomatic position in these conflicts.
Former Prime Minister Jacques Chirac recalled the column he signed in Liberation newspaper, demanding that the doors of Gaza be opened to allow journalists and non-governmental organizations to enter, and he said, “It is the duty of the international community to know what is happening. We cannot leave an area of 365 square kilometers in the dark from which there is no escape.” Regarding Israel, he added, “Democracy must be accountable to the international community.”
Stop there
De Villepin, who is also a former foreign minister who regularly denounces the situation in Gaza and demands recognition of a Palestinian state, also denounced the lack of clarity in France’s position on the conflict in the Middle East, and said, “There is often a lack of clarity in the message because positions differ over time.” What must be fought, and which France is not fighting enough, is the battle to defend principles, those that must be defended in Ukraine and those that must be defended in Gaza and in the Middle East.”
Elizabeth Bourne, recalling the mission assigned to former Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian as an envoy to Lebanon, responded by saying, “I think we are engaging in some political maneuvers,” and said that since the attack of October 7, 2023, France has strongly affirmed that “Israel has the right to defend itself in accordance with of international law.”
If you change the existing Premier Ministries @Elisabeth_Borne and Dominique de @Villepinau sujet des guerres au Proche-Orient et en Ukraine.
📺 #QuelleEpoque @FranceTV @LeaSalame pic.twitter.com/SyiJwOVo3z
—Quelle Époque! (@QuelleEpoqueOff) November 24, 2024
De Villepin interrupted the former Prime Minister, saying, “Stop there. Is France doing this in accordance with international law?” She responded with resentment, “What is your magic solution?” De Villepin said with annoyance, “When (US President) Joe Biden gives an ultimatum to (Israeli Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu and does not respect it, what is your solution? This should not be accepted. I do not accept it.” The massacres in the Gaza Strip,” and Bourne replied, “But what next?”
De Villepin asserts, “We cannot be satisfied with good words or ready-made formulas. I am a diplomat, and I was a representative of French diplomacy and a minister of foreign affairs, and we must look at these positions without being satisfied with beautiful words.”
He concluded by saying, “We do not lack the necessary means to act,” and called for France to propose a new resolution on Gaza, especially after the arrest orders issued by the International Criminal Court against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Galant.
As for the war in Ukraine, which exceeded a thousand days this week, De Villepin stressed the importance of the European Union and Kiev taking a unified position that will serve as a red line that must be presented to US President-elect Donald Trump, who promised to resolve the conflict between Kiev and Moscow in one day, and the former foreign minister warned, saying: “We must not force Ukraine to surrender.”
Elizabeth Bourne, for her part, stated that the European Union is united regarding the war in Ukraine, and said, “We imposed successive sets of sanctions,” and asked, “Can we be satisfied with this, knowing that the sanctions are being circumvented?”