Israel has refused to allow France to be involved in the direct talks between it and Lebanon, which are set to begin next week in Washington, two sources told The Jerusalem Post on Friday.
An Israeli official said that “France’s conduct over the past year - including initiatives aimed at limiting Israel’s ability to fight in Iran, and a complete lack of willingness to take concrete steps to help Lebanon disarm Hezbollah - has led Israel to view France as an unfair mediator.”
The Israeli decision follows growing anger over France’s behavior in recent months, particularly since the joint Israeli-American strike against Iran. France refused to allow US aircraft carrying weapons to Israel to pass through its airspace.
In addition, since Hezbollah began firing a day after the Israeli-American strike on Iran, French President Emmanuel Macron and other senior French officials have been pressuring Israel not to launch a ground operation in Lebanon.
Lebanon tries to hold direct negotiations
Lebanon itself has, in recent weeks, sought to hold direct negotiations with Israel, mainly in order to prevent a large-scale Israeli military operation in the country. These overtures were made through both senior officials in the Trump administration and officials in the French government.
While the Trump administration told the Lebanese, “First take serious steps to disarm Hezbollah, and then we will speak with Israel,” the French government, led by President Macron - who also spoke several times with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the issue - attempted to promote direct talks. However, Israel showed little interest, maintaining that the Lebanese government is not acting against Hezbollah and that Israel therefore has no choice but to operate on Lebanese territory itself.
The shift in Israel’s position - and its decision to proceed with talks with Lebanon - comes after significant strikes and operations against the terrorist organization, as well as following a US request, including during a conversation between Netanyahu and Trump, to “scale back” military activity in Lebanon in order to allow negotiations with Iran to move forward.
The representatives in the talks, which are expected to begin Tuesday at the State Department, will be Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter, and Lebanon’s ambassador to the United States, Nada Hamadeh. The American mediator will be Michel Issa, the US ambassador to Lebanon.