By Bret Stephens
There’s a popular quip regarding papal declarations on premarital sex: If you’re not in the game, you can’t set the rules. A similar sentiment could apply to France’s stance on foreign affairs.
Recently, President Emmanuel Macron expressed on a radio program that “nations should cease supplying arms to Israel for use in Gaza.” While he claims to prioritize Israel’s security, what he’s effectively advocating is an arms embargo: You cannot refuse Israel arms for potential actions in one situation while simultaneously permitting them for other scenarios.
Once, such assertions would have carried weight. In the formative years of the Jewish state, France was a key provider of significant military equipment, including advanced aircraft and, as many sources suggest, crucial backing for its emerging nuclear arsenal.
This shifted just before the Arab-Israeli conflict of 1967, when President Charles de Gaulle enacted an arms embargo affecting the Middle East, primarily harming Israel. He also made statements accusing “the Jews” of being “an elite people, always self-assured and dominant.”
Since that time, France’s role in bolstering Israel’s security has effectively been nonexistent. Reports indicate that France still sells Israel around $20 million in weapon system components, a trivial percentage of Israel’s overall military spending. However, the French government did provide Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein with a nuclear reactor, which was destroyed by the Israeli air force in 1981. Furthermore, France has been notably negligent in upholding the U.N. Security Council resolution 1701, intended to disarm Hezbollah and prevent its presence near Israel’s border with Lebanon.
The consequences of such inaction include the ongoing conflict in Lebanon. Additionally, declarations concerning the Middle East conflict from the French president have little impact, serving mainly as ineffective virtue-signaling aimed at sections of the French populace and the Francophone community. Regarding Paris’ previously significant sway over Israeli public sentiment, it’s worth noting that Macron’s remarks came just days after Iran attempted to strike Israel with a wave of nearly 200 ballistic missiles and on the brink of the anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre.
No matter one’s perspective on Israel, it exemplifies how a small nation can significantly influence global matters, particularly in countering the threat that Iran poses to the free world. Under Macron, France has emerged as the contrary: a large nation that contributes nothing of substance.
