2023-10-17 14:18:00
Emmanuel Macron spoke, this Tuesday, October 17, of “intense discussions” which “advance” for the release of hostages held by Hamas, after the mother of a Franco-Israeli, Mia Shem, begged “the leaders of the world » to free his daughter, kidnapped on October 7 in Israel.
“I want to be very careful here, you will understand that I do not say more in order, firstly, not to create expectations that would be disappointed and, above all, not to endanger the intense discussions that we are in. driving,” the French president said at a press conference in Tirana, Albania.
“But they are moving forward, we are monitoring these discussions hour by hour,” he added, stressing that France had “contacts, obviously, with the Israeli authorities”, but also with “intermediate friendly powers with Hamas to obtain the release of our hostages and all the hostages.”
“Support” and “affection”
He assured the family of Mia Shem, a video of which was released Monday by the Palestinian Islamist organization, and all the relatives of those missing since the October 7 attack of his “support” and his “affection.” “We are in the process of putting in place everything in our power to obtain this release,” he insisted.
While American President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have announced they will visit Israel and the region this week, and Egypt is organizing a summit on Saturday on “the future of the Palestinian cause”, the leader of the French state said that he would only go to the Middle East when there was a “useful agenda and very concrete actions to take there”.
“I will continue the consultations, the discussions, but my desire is to be able to travel there when we can obtain a concrete agreement, either on non-escalation or on humanitarian issues,” he said. explain. This could happen “maybe in the next few days, maybe in the next few weeks.”
European countries are “vulnerable”
Also questioned, during his visit to Albania, about the attack the day before in Brussels which killed two Swedes and that of Friday in Arras, in the north of France, which caused the death of a teacher, Emmanuel Macron estimated that “all European states” were “vulnerable” to the return of “Islamist terrorism”.
“It will never be possible in a rule of law to have a system where the terrorist risk is completely eradicated,” he warned, calling for the establishment of a “vigilance society”. “We all have a vulnerability. It’s the one that goes with democracies, states of law, where you have individuals who at a moment can decide to do the worst,” he said.
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