Page 8 - ARUBA TODAY

A8 U.S. NEWS
Monday 17 July 2017

Macron decries France’s Nazi past during Netanyahu visit

By ANGELA CHARLTON cently we have witnessed
Associated Press a rise of extremist forc-
PARIS (AP) — French Presi- es that seek to destroy
dent Emmanuel Macron not only the Jews, but of
denounced France’s col- course the Jewish state as
laboration in the Holo- well, but well beyond that.
caust, lashing out Sunday ... The zealots of militant Is-
at those who negate or lam, who seek to destroy
minimize the country’s you, seek to destroy us as
role in sending tens of well.
thousands of Jews to their We must stand against
deaths. them together.”
After he and Israeli Prime Pro-Palestinian and other
Minister Benjamin Netan- activists protested Netan-
yahu attended a Holo- yahu’s appearance in Par-
caust commemoration, is, criticizing Jewish settle-
Macron also appealed for ment policy and the block-
renewed Israeli-Palestinian ade of Gaza.
peace talks. Worried that Macron condemned an
Netanyahu is backing attack last week that killed
away from commitment two Israeli police officers at
to a two-state solution, a Jerusalem shrine revered
Macron assailed Jewish by Jews and Muslims,
settlement construction as and said he is committed
a threat to international to Israel’s security — but
hopes for peace. warned that continued
Commemorating 75 years Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and French President Emmanuel Macron shake Jewish settlement con-
since a mass roundup of hands after they maid declarations at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Sunday, July 16, 2017. struction threatens peace
Jews during the darkest Associated Press efforts.
chapter of modern French Holocaust survivors re- to camps. More than 4,000 Jacques Chirac became “I call for a resumption of
history, Macron insisted counted wrenching stories were children. Fewer than the first French leader to negotiations between Is-
that “it was indeed France at the ceremony at the 100 survived. acknowledge the state’s rael and the Palestinians
that organized this.” site of Vel d’Hiv stadium They were among some role in the Holocaust’s hor- in the framework of the
“Not a single German” was outside Paris, where po- 76,000 Jews deported from rors. search for a solution of two
directly involved, he said, lice herded some 13,000 France to Nazi camps. Macron dismissed argu- states, Israel and Palestine,
but French police collabo- people on July 16-17, 1942 It was a half century lat- ments by French far right living in recognized, secure
rating with the Nazis. borders with Jerusalem as
before they were deported er when then-President leaders and others that
the collaborationist Vichy the capital,” Macron told
reporters.
regime didn’t represent
France. At his side, Netanyahu said,
“We share the same de-
“It is convenient to see the
Vichy regime as born of sire for a peaceful Middle
East,” but didn’t elaborate
nothingness, returned to
nothingness . on eventual peace talks.
While Macron has been
Yes, it’s convenient, but it
is false. We cannot build flexing his diplomatic skills
with outreach to President
pride upon a lie.”
French Jewish leaders Donald Trump and others,
he didn’t indicate any
hailed Macron’s speech
Sunday — even as critics eagerness for France to
spearhead such nego-
railed at him online, where
renewed anti-Semitism tiations, after a lackluster
French Mideast diplomatic
has flourished. Macron
pledged to fight such rac- effort under his predeces-
sor early this year.
ism, and called for thor-
ough investigation into the Macron and Netanyahu
also discussed fighting ex-
recent killing of a Parisian
woman believed linked to tremism in Syria and else-
where,
and
improving
anti-Jewish sentiment.
Netanyahu said that “re- economic cooperation.q