Macron: US should pressure Netanyahu to accept ceasefire

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday called on the United States to pressure Israel to accept the plan that he and US President Joe Biden proposed for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon, Reuters reported.

Macron, who spoke during a visit to Canada, also warned that an Israeli invasion of Lebanon would be a huge mistake.

Biden and Macron made the call for a ceasefire in a statement on Wednesday, which was endorsed by Australia, Canada, European Union, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.

On Thursday, after landing in New York ahead of his address to the UN General Assembly, Netanyahu told reporters, “My policy, our policy, is clear: we continue to strike Hezbollah with full force. We will not stop until we reach our goals and above all the return of the residents of the north to their homes. That is the policy, and may no one be mistaken.”

Before that, Netanyahu’s office responded to reports of an impending ceasefire deal between Israel and the Hezbollah terror group and said, “The reports of a ceasefire are not true. This is a French-American initiative that the Prime Minister has not even responded to.”

“The reports of an instruction to moderate the fighting in the north is also the opposite of the truth. The Prime Minister instructed the IDF to continue the fighting with full force, and according to the plans presented to him. As well, the fighting in Gaza will continue until all of the goals of the war are achieved.”

Macron told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation there was still time for Netanyahu to commit to the plan.

“And I do believe that the US now has to increase the pressure on the prime minister of Israel to do so,” he said, adding that if Netanyahu said no, Macron said, France would raise the matter at the United Nations Security Council.

“We wait for all the partners to be very vocal and committed with us in order to send this clear message: Israel cannot invade Lebanon today. War is not possible in Lebanon today; it would be a huge mistake, a huge risk of escalation,” he stated.

Macron earlier told a news conference in Montreal that he did not think the comments by Israeli officials on the ceasefire idea were definitive.

Before the ceasefire call was made on Wednesday, Macron addressed the UN General Assembly and called for an end to Israeli “escalation” in Lebanon along with the rocket attacks by Hezbollah on Israel.

“We urge Israel to cease this escalation in Lebanon, and to Hezbollah to cease these missile launches to Israel. We urge all of those who provide (Hezbollah) with the means to do so to stop doing so,” said the French President.

“Israel can’t, without consequence, just expand its operations to Lebanon,” continued Macron, who stressed, “We can’t have a war in Lebanon.”