French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday evening that if US President Donald Trump really wants a Nobel Peace Prize, he needs to work on a solution to stop the war in Gaza. Macron’s remarks came in the backdrop of the United Nations General Assembly meeting, where Trump gave a speech against the endorsement of Palestinian statehood.
Macron, while speaking to France’s BFM TV from New York on Tuesday, said that Trump had the power to put pressure on Israel and end the war. “There is one person who can do something about it, and that is the US President,” he said.
Macron said, “The reason he (Trump) can do more than us, is because we do not supply weapons that allow the war in Gaza to be waged. We do not supply equipment that allows war to be waged in Gaza. The United States of America does.”
“I see an American president who is involved, who reiterated this morning from the podium: ‘I want peace. I have resolved seven conflicts’, who wants the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Peace Prize is only possible if you stop this conflict,” the French President said.
This came after Trump and Macron had a clash over Palestine during a press conference on UNGA sidelines, where the latter reiterated France’s stance on the ongoing conflict.
Answering a question about the Palestinian statehood, Trump said, “I think we can’t do that since it honours Hamas. After October 7, we can’t do that. We want our hostages back and we also want the war to end.”
Macron, quick to respond, said that no one has forgotten the October 7 attacks, and he was one of the first leaders to meet the families affected by the atrocities. Sitting next to Trump, the French president pointed out that a lot of victims of the attacks were from France, and that recognising the Palestinian state doesn’t ignore Hamas’ attack.
“It has been almost two years and Israel has already killed the top leaders of Hamas, and at the same time, we have the same amount of Hamas fighters as we did on the first day. It doesn’t work, it is not the way to proceed,” Macron said.
Trump further said, “We are going to end the war, we will have a solution that makes everyone happy. We also need to get the hostages back.”
