Will diplomacy silence the guns? Monday April 15, the European Union (EU) and several European countries, including France, Germany and the United Kingdom, called on the government of Benjamin Netanyahu to avoid any escalation in its conflict with Tehran after the Iranian attack on Israel this weekend.
The Israeli war cabinet is due to meet again at 2 p.m. to discuss a possible response, according to a government source. Israeli officials said the war cabinet, which already met on Sunday, favored retaliatory measures but was divided on the timing and extent of those measures. The United States, Israel’s first ally, warned on Sunday that it would not participate in a retaliatory operation.
“Defensive victory”. Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles towards Israel on Saturday, the first direct attack in its history against Israeli territory, in response to the strike against the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1, which cost the life of a senior commander of the elite Al Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Israel said it destroyed 99% of the projectiles fired – with help from the United States, France, the United Kingdom and Jordan – and its partners hailed a “defensive victory” for the Jewish state.
“Profound rupture”. “Today, we are going to do everything to avoid conflagration, that is to say escalation, and therefore try to convince Israel that we must not respond by escalating,” declared French President Emmanuel Macron on BFM TV/RMC. Rather, he added, it is a matter of “isolating Iran, succeeding in convincing the countries of the region that Iran is a danger, increasing sanctions, increasing pressure on nuclear activities and then find a path of peace in the region.” “For the first time, Iran has decided to send strikes from its soil on Israeli soil. It’s a change, a profound rupture. What has opened up is very dangerous in terms of reaction,” continued Emmanuel Macron.
British Foreign Minister David Cameron also said he hoped on Monday that Israel would not carry out reprisals against Iran. “I think they are perfectly justified in thinking that they must react because they have been attacked, but we urge them, as friends, to think with their heads and their hearts, to be intelligent and resilient” , he told the BBC.
“Precipice”. Visiting Shanghai, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned Iran against a new attack on Israel while saying that the Israeli government must also help ease tensions. “We are on the edge of the precipice and we must move away from it,” said the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, on Spanish radio Onda Cero. An emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers is planned for Tuesday.
Russia, which has refrained from openly criticizing Iran, expressed concern on Monday about the risk of escalation of the conflict and called for restraint. “Continued escalation is not in anyone’s interests,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Iran’s attack on Israel over the weekend caused only limited damage on Israeli soil. The only serious injury reported was a seven-year-old child, hit by shrapnel.
This article is originally published on .lopinion.fr
