Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallad rejected yesterday Friday the French initiative aimed at de-escalation on the border with Lebanon, accusing Paris of “hostility” towards his country, a position however characterized as “wrong” and “inappropriate” by Israeli diplomacy .

“While we wage a just war, defending our people, France adopts a policy of hostility towards Israel. By doing so, France ignores the atrocities committed by Hamas,” Mr. Gallant argued via X in posts written in Hebrew, English and French, adding that Israel “will not be part of the tripartite framework proposed by France”.

Last Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France, the US and Israel would work, in a “tripartite” format, to implement the road map proposed by Paris to reduce tensions on Israel’s borders. and Lebanon, where clashes are practically daily between the Israeli armed forces and Hezbollah, since the day after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, triggered by the Palestinian Islamist movement’s unprecedented incursion into Israeli territory on the 7th October.

Asked by AFP if these statements reflected the position of the Israeli government, a government spokesman limited himself to saying that Mr. Gallant was speaking in his capacity as defense minister.

“Despite the differences that exist between Israel and France,” Mr. Gallant’s “attacks” against Paris are “wrong and out of place,” senior Israeli foreign ministry officials said.

They recalled that “France actively participated in the defense of the airspace of the State of Israel” on the night of April 13-14, when the unprecedented direct attack of the Islamic Republic of Iran with hundreds of drones and missiles against Israeli territory was repelled.

“Since the beginning of the war”, the government of France has pursued a “clear” policy, “condemning” the actions of Hamas and imposing “sanctions” on the Palestinian Islamist movement, while “the French authorities are actively fighting against the scourge of anti-Semitism”, they added these sources, underlining that “the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to fight” and negotiate “with all parties” in order to “defend Israel’s interests on the northern front”.

On May 31, France canceled the participation of Israeli arms industries in the Eurosatory exhibition, scheduled to be held near Paris from June 17 to 21, amid international outrage over the way Israeli operations are conducted in the Gaza Strip.

The attack by Hamas’ military arm in southern Israel on October 7 killed 1,194 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data.

Israel’s large-scale military retaliatory operation in the Gaza Strip has so far claimed the lives of at least 37,266 people, most of them civilians, according to data from Hamas’ health ministry.