‘Not true': French President Macron denies domestic dispute with wife as video goes viral
They were "joking as we often do", he told reporters in Hanoi, adding that other videos had been misinterpreted as showing him sharing a bag of cocaine or confronting the Turkish president.
"None of these are true," he said, and "everyone needs to calm down".
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The National
4 hours ago
- The National
UN conference will test global resolve for Palestinian statehood
Saudi Arabia and France are set to spearhead a high-stakes conference at the UN this week, launching a bold push to forge a path towards an independent Palestinian state − a move that has already ignited a fierce backlash from Israel and the Trump administration. This ambitious initiative aims to resurrect long-stalled peace efforts, setting the stage for a diplomatic showdown over the region's future. The two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is both more threatened and more necessary than at any time since the Oslo Accords, a French diplomatic source said ahead of the conference. The October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel deepened Israeli scepticism towards Palestinian statehood, while the subsequent war in Gaza has devastated the enclave and weakened prospects for stability, the source told reporters in New York. Despite these challenges, the French official argued that the two-state solution remains the only viable path forward. It is 'even more necessary because there is no alternative', the source said. 'We cannot just discuss the situation in Gaza and the day after … we need to see beyond.' French President Emmanuel Macron last week announced that France would recognise Palestine as a state. 'The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops, and the civilian population is saved,' he said. France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told CBS News on Sunday that Paris's diplomatic efforts are 'very complementary' to Washington's. 'In fact, we will welcome any further efforts led by the US to implement the Abraham Accord logics. And what we're doing now with this very significant conference that will take place in New York will pave the way for such accords,' he said. 'But in the meantime, until the US administration provides, through the Abraham Accord logics, a political horizon for this crisis, we need to act in order to facilitate the or create an off ramp for the catastrophe ongoing in Gaza' The French diplomatic source indicated that no new normalisation agreements are expected to be announced during the meeting. This week's ministerial-level conference, which was postponed in June amid the 12-day air war between Israel and Iran, will focus on Gaza's reconstruction, its governance and security, disarmament of the Palestinian militant group Hamas and normalising relations between Israel and Arab states that have not yet done so. Volker Türk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, said the international community "will judge this conference on what it delivers." "We stand ready to support the Palestinians in state-building, with human rights and rule of law at its centre. When that time comes, programmes to support victims and survivors will be an important avenue for opening a pathway to accountability and redress," he said. China expressed its support for the UN conference on Friday, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun saying 'the two-state solution remains the only viable path to resolve the Palestinian issue'. Max Rodenbeck, Israel-Palestine project director at the International Crisis Group think tank, said that while reviving international focus on the two-state solution is 'laudable', practical steps are needed. 'Rhetorical support needs to be matched by practical steps, as the practical possibility for creating a Palestinian state on the ground has been ebbing for years, and under the current Israeli government faces stubborn hostility,' Mr Rodenbeck said. France in September will become the third permanent member of the UN Security Council to recognise Palestine, along with Russia and China. Currently, 147 out of 193 UN member states officially recognise the state of Palestine. Mr Rodenbeck noted that Mr Macron's pledge to recognise a Palestinian state, even if symbolic for now, offers Palestinians 'a horizon for hope'. Pressure is intensifying on Israel to end its war in Gaza. Israel's strikes and ground offensive have killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians, displaced most of the population and laid waste to most of the enclave. This followed the Hamas-led attacks on Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and abducting 240. The conference takes place as ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas appear to have collapsed, and as more than 100 aid agencies warned of mass starvation in Gaza. US President Donald Trump suggested on Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should intensify military action against Hamas to eliminate the group. 'Hamas didn't really want to make a deal, I think they want to die,' Mr Trump told journalists at the White House before a trip to Scotland, adding that it's time to 'finish the job' and 'get rid' of Hamas. Mr Rodenbeck said: 'It is tragic that ceasefire talks have broken down, but the more immediate tragedy – and a more solvable one – is the looming famine about to engulf Gaza.' 'Israel's use of food as a weapon is not only disgraceful, it has clearly proved ineffective as a negotiating tactic,' he said. The event will test international resolve to push for Palestinian statehood despite Israeli and US resistance, with Riyadh and Paris framing it as a critical step towards long-term stability.
Gulf Today
a day ago
- Gulf Today
Inspired by France, UN's July 28 meet to buttress push for Palestinian solution
Fired by France's imminent recognition of Palestinian statehood, UN members meet next week to breathe life into the push for a two-state solution as Israel, expected to be absent, presses its war in Gaza. Days before the July 28-30 conference on fostering Israeli and Palestinian states living peacefully side-by-side to be co-chaired by Riyadh and Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would formally recognize the State of Palestine in September. His declaration "will breathe new life into a conference that seemed destined to irrelevance," said Richard Gowan, an analyst at International Crisis Group. "Macron's announcement changes the game. Other participants will be scrabbling to decide if they should also declare an intent to recognize Palestine." According to an AFP database, at least 142 of the 193 UN member states – including France – now recognize the Palestinian state proclaimed by the Palestinian leadership in exile in 1988. In 1947, a resolution of the UN General Assembly decided on the partition of Palestine, then under a British mandate, into two independent states – one Jewish and the other Arab. Geographically impossible The following year, the State of Israel was proclaimed, and for several decades, the vast majority of UN member states have supported the idea of a two-state solution: Israeli and Palestinian, living side-by-side peacefully and securely. But after more than 21 months of war in Gaza, the ongoing expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and senior Israeli officials declaring designs to annex occupied territory, it is feared a Palestinian state could be geographically impossible. The war in Gaza started following a deadly attack by Hamas on Israel, which responded with a large-scale military response that has claimed tens of thousands of Palestinian lives. The New York conference is a response to the crisis, with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa and several dozen ministers from around the world expected to attend. 'No alternative' The meeting comes as a two-state solution is "more threatened than it has ever been (but) even more necessary than before, because we see very clearly that there is no alternative," said a French diplomatic source. Beyond facilitating conditions for recognition of a Palestinian state, the meeting will have three other focuses -- reform of the Palestinian Authority, disarmament of Hamas and its exclusion from Palestinian public life, and normalization of relations with Israel by Arab states that have not yet done so. The diplomatic source warned that no announcement of new normalization deals was expected next week. Ahead of the conference, which was delayed from June, Britain said it would not recognize a Palestinian state unilaterally and would wait for "a wider plan" for peace in the region. Macron has also not yet persuaded Germany to follow suit and recognize a Palestinian state in the short term. Unique opportunity, says Riyad Mansour The conference "offers a unique opportunity to transform international law and the international consensus into an achievable plan and to demonstrate resolve to end the occupation and conflict once and for all, for the benefit of all peoples," said the Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour, calling for "courage" from participants. Israel and the United States will not take part in the meeting. Israel's ambassador to the UN Danny Danon "has announced that Israel will not be taking part in this conference, which doesn't first urgently address the issue of condemning Hamas and returning all of the remaining hostages," according to embassy spokesman Jonathan Harounoff. As international pressure continues to mount on Israel to end nearly two years of war in Gaza, the humanitarian catastrophe in the ravaged coastal territory is expected to dominate speeches by representatives of more than 100 countries as they take to the podium from Monday to Wednesday. Gowan said he expected "very fierce criticism of Israel." Agence France-Presse
Khaleej Times
2 days ago
- Khaleej Times
Syria says meeting with Israeli officials sought to 'contain escalation'
A Syrian diplomatic source said Saturday (July 26) that a US-mediated meeting with Israeli officials in Paris sought to "contain the escalation" after recent sectarian violence in southern Syria prompted Israeli intervention. Israel launched strikes this month on Damascus and Druze-majority Sweida province, saying it was acting both in support of the religious minority and to enforce its demands for a demilitarised southern Syria. The Syrian diplomatic source told state television on Saturday that the Paris meeting "brought together a delegation from the foreign ministry and the general intelligence service with the Israeli side", and addressed "recent security developments and attempts to contain the escalation in southern Syria". Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels. On Thursday (July 24), US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack had said he held talks with unspecified Syrian and Israeli officials in Paris. A senior diplomat had previously told AFP that Barrack would be facilitating talks between Damascus's Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer. According to the source cited by state TV, the meeting "addressed the possibility of reactivating the disengagement agreement with international guarantees, while demanding the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from points where they recently advanced". After the overthrow of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that used to separate the countries' forces in the strategic Golan Heights. It has since conducted incursions deeper into southern Syria, demanding the area's total demilitarisation. Damascus has previously confirmed holding indirect contacts with Israel seeking a return to the 1974 disengagement agreement that created the buffer zone. The Paris meeting "did not result in any final agreements but rather represented initial consultations that aimed to reduce tensions and reopen communication channels in light of the ongoing escalation since early December", the diplomatic source said. More meetings were planned, the source said, adding that the Syrian side emphasised that the country's unity and sovereignty were non-negotiable. "Sweida and its people are an integral part of the Syrian state," the delegation said, according to the source. Syrian and Israeli officials had previously met in Baku on July 12, according to a diplomatic source in Damascus, coinciding with a visit to Azerbaijan by Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa. The two countries have technically been at war since 1948, and Israel has occupied the Golan Heights, which it seized from Syria, since 1967. After Assad's ouster, Israel carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria to prevent key military assets from falling into the hands of the new Islamist-led administration.
