"Mr Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a decision of the UN," Macron told the weekly French cabinet meeting on Tuesday, referring to the resolution adopted in November 1947 by the United Nations General Assembly to partition Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state.
His comments during the closed-door meeting at the Elysee Palace were quoted by two participants who spoke to AFP and asked not to be named.
"Therefore this is not the time to disregard the decisions of the UN," he added. UN Security Council Resolution 1701 states that only the Lebanese army and UNIFIL should be deployed in southern Lebanon.
Netanyahu hit back at Macron's comments later Tuesday, saying the country's founding was achieved by the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, not a UN ruling.
He also said that among those who fought for Israel in 1948 were French Jews who had been sent to death camps after being rounded up by the collaborationist Vichy regime, which governed France during the Nazi occupation in World War II.
"A reminder to the president of France: It was not the UN resolution that established the State of Israel, but rather the victory achieved in the war of independence with the blood of heroic fighters, many of whom were Holocaust survivors -- including from the Vichy regime in France," Netanyahu said.
The Staff: Remember, America had to sing the French Navy at the start of WW2 as they were first with the Nazis after they were forced out of Paris by the Germans. The only French people who give a damn about Americans are near Normandy.
