French President Emmanuel Macron used his address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday to condemn what he called the international community’s inaction over Gaza.
Macron said many countries had recognised a Palestinian state over the past year, but questioned the value of such moves if governments failed to act over the war in Gaza. “How credible are we if we remain inactive with regard to Gaza? We should all be ashamed,” he said.
He also criticised violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Earlier in his speech, Macron warned that some countries were abusing their power to undermine the international order. He said the world faced a choice between living under “the law of the jungle” or in a civilised international community.
Turning to the war in Ukraine, Macron called for a “dual moratorium” on attacks against energy facilities by both Russia and Ukraine.
He said France backed a halt to strikes on energy and civilian infrastructure on both sides. He also called for a separate moratorium in the Black Sea to allow grain exports and help address food security, which he said remained vital for many developing countries.
On artificial intelligence, Macron urged the development of an alternative that would avoid dependence on either the United States or China.
He said a coalition of independent countries that did not want to become vassals of either global power should work together to build an advanced open-source model by pooling computing capacity and investment resources, which could then be shared.
