The Speaker of the Knesset, Amir Ohana, met this evening (Wednesday) at the Elysee Palace with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, as part of his state visit to France and Germany, where he met with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
The meeting discussed the ongoing fighting in the Gaza Strip, with a focus on the expected operation against the Hamas brigades in Rafah, the humanitarian aid Israel is providing, the possibility of a military campaign against Hezbollah in the north, and Iran's threats to act against Israel.
Speaker of the Knesset Ohana presented the current situation to President Macron and asked him to continue to stand by the State of Israel as he did immediately after the Hamas invasion.
"There is no scenario in which Israel refrains from dealing with the four Hamas brigades in Rafah, otherwise, it means leaving Hamas in Gaza so they can carry out the October 7th massacre again. There is an operational plan to evacuate the population from the area, taking care of humanitarian issues, just as we did in the northern Strip at the beginning of the fighting," said Ohana.
He also addressed the issue of humanitarian aid to Gaza. "If there is starvation in Gaza, it's in the tunnels with our captives. Since the beginning of the war, Israel has brought hundreds of thousands of tons of humanitarian aid into the Strip - food, medicine, and more, despite protests and opposition from many in the Israeli public opinion; hence the claims that Israel does not bring in aid are absurd. So far, over 20,000 trucks carrying 417,000 tons of aid have entered the Strip. In some cases, Hamas robs them from its citizens by force."
He also noted that "The proposal to impose sanctions on Israel as well as the UN resolution for a ceasefire without the release of the captives or unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state play into Hamas's hands. Sinwar, who perpetrated the greatest horror to the Jewish people since the Holocaust, watches the media, is stunned and says to himself: "I won. I'll accept the ceasefire, even without paying the price of releasing the captives."
President Macron addressed Iran's threats and said: "We are approaching the moment of truth against Iran. The free world cannot allow Iran to emerge from the war as it entered it. The Ayatollah regime - which also threatens at this very moment to attack Israel - is not only Israel's enemy but the enemy of the free world".
"We all share the values of freedom - freedom for women, freedom for LGBT people, freedom of expression even for government opponents - what is the status of these rights and freedoms in Iran? What values does the Ayatollah regime represent? In the Middle East - only the State of Israel represents the values of the free world. The Ayatollah regime is an enemy of the values of freedom and an enemy of the peace that Israel sought with the Arab countries - something that Hamas tried to stop on October 7th. History books are being written as we speak. The whole world is watching the approaching clash of civilizations and at this moment, we must decide: how do we want our countries and us to be remembered."