Emmanuel Macron has warned Benjamin Netanyahu that “civilisation is not best defended by sowing barbarism ourselves”, as a conference convened by the French president in Paris raised $200m (£154m) for Lebanon’s official military and $800m in humanitarian aid for the country.
Macron also vowed to help train 6,000 extra Lebanese official forces. He called for a ceasefire and an end to Israeli attacks on UN peacekeepers, for which he said there was no justification.
The twin aims of the conference were to alleviate the humanitarian suffering in Lebanon and to strengthen Lebanese state institutions including the official army. France has historical ties to Lebanon and has a large Lebanese diaspora population.
In his opening remarks, Macron also said it was a matter of bitter regret that Iran, backer of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, had “engaged Hezbollah against Israel, while Lebanon’s higher interest required that it stay away from the Gaza war”.
In words directed at the Israeli prime minister, with whom his relationship has deteriorated badly, he said: “We have been talking a lot in recent days about a war of civilisations or about civilisations that must be defended. I am not sure that we defend a civilisation by sowing barbarism ourselves.”
Netanyahu had said on Europe 1 radio on Wednesday: “It is a war of civilisations against barbarism; we are at the forefront of this war and France must support Israel.”
The Israeli offensive in Lebanon was launched with the declared aim of securing the return home of tens of thousands of people evacuated from homes in northern Israel during a year of cross-border hostilities with Hezbollah. Israel has used airstrikes to pound southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the Bekaa valley, and sent ground forces into areas near the border. Lebanese authorities say the Israeli campaign has killed more than 2,500 people and displaced more than 1 million others, sparking a humanitarian crisis.
In a sign of diplomatic tensions with the US, Macron recalled that he and Joe Biden had launched an appeal on 25 September for a 21-day pause in the fighting and said he regretted that this had still not happened. Since that appeal, it appears that the US has decided to give Israel a conditional green light to bomb Hezbollah so that the militant group is forced into an unconditional ceasefire.
As the conference closed, the French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, told participants: “In total, we have jointly gathered $800m in humanitarian aid.” He said there was a further $200m for Lebanon’s official security forces, bringing the total to “almost a billion, even more than a billion … with the latest contributions”.
The total far outstrips both France’s target of €500m ($540m) and the $400m originally requested by the UN for Lebanon.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, declined to attend the conference, instead meeting Qatari leaders closely involved in the Gaza ceasefire talks. “We have been very clear that this cannot lead, should not lead, to a protracted campaign,” he said in Doha on Thursday evening.
Macron appeared to back a tougher mandate for the UN peacekeepers much criticised by Israel, saying: “It will have to be robust, verifiable and operational enough so that everyone, in Lebanon, in Israel, at the United Nations, is convinced that the Lebanese state will effectively exercise its authority over the entire territory in the long term.”
Hezbollah, with most of its senior leadership killed by Israel, has said it will not talk about its political or military strategy until Israel implements a ceasefire. Israel has said it will continue to weaken Hezbollah, both in Beirut and south of the Litani River.
Since the escalation of hostilities a year ago more than 2,500 people in Lebanon have been killed and nearly 12,000 injured, according to the UN. French efforts to secure a ceasefire rest on Hezbollah clearly stating it is willing to end its war. Conflicting messages have emerged from Hezbollah about whether it is willing to sever the link between the two theatres of war, but France believes if the US were to put pressure on Israel to agree a ceasefire, an agreement could be reached.
That in turn might provide the space to secure a majority in the Lebanese parliament to elect a new president, ending a two-year impasse caused by divisions largely on ethnic grounds.
Israel believes UN resolution 1701, passed in 2006, has never been fully implemented partly owing to the failure of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) to take up a key part of its mandate that calls on Hezbollah to pull back north of the Litani, about 20 miles (30km) from the border with Israel. The US envoy Amos Hochstein said on Monday in Beirut that a new, more assertive “1701+” mandate was necessary.
Italy, one of the lead contributors to Unifil, has proposed the creation of a peacekeeping buffer with more personnel and more power, and different rules of engagement between the border with Israel and the Litani. It also supports the training of regular Lebanese army troops.
Israel is insisting on the right to maintain access to Lebanese airspace, something no government in Beirut is likely to accept.
• An earlier version of this article was amended on 24 October 2024 to correct a figure for French humanitarian aid, which had been given as €100bn, when €100m was meant. That aid reference is no longer included in this version following updates to reflect news developments.
