Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and French President Emmanuel Macron met Tuesday evening at the Elysee Palace in Paris.
"My colleagues in Europe and I think that there is a need to preserve the nuclear agreement, but we are concerned about Iran's activities in the Middle East," Macron said at a joint press conference after the meeting.
"France supports the two-state solution," he said. He criticized the transfer of the American embassy to Jerusalem and said that its transfer caused death, as he puts it.
Regarding the events in the south, Macaron said, "I made it clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu that I am concerned about the events of the last few weeks on the Gaza border that threaten the peace process."
"We condemn violence against civilians, including the violence of Hamas. France wants to be part of the solution to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza," he added.
"We want to bring stability to the Middle East, and the nuclear agreement is part of that, but it should be extended by an additional 10 years, and we should consider Iran's aggression in the region and its ballistic missile program," he said.
Prime Minister Netanyahu said at the press conference that "the greatest threat to the world today is nuclear weapons in the hands of the current regime in Tehran ... This is the time to put maximum pressure on the Iranians ... I did not ask President Macron to withdraw from the nuclear agreement, but I preferred to focus on stopping Iranian aggression in the region."
"Our position against Iran is shared not only by Israel but also by many Arab countries on which Iran is threatening. A precondition for rebuilding Syria is for Iran to leave the country," Netanyahu said.
Referring to the violent demonstrations on the Gaza border, Netanyahu said, "These are not demonstrations but violent riots. They deliberately put children in harm's way, and at the same time they try to injure and kill Israelis. They are burning our fields. We are not talking about civilians and reality is not what we would see from here. We maintain our right to defend ourselves."
