NEW YORK, Sep 24 : Meeting at the UN with French President Emmanuel Macron, US President Donald Trump affirmed his full support to Israel, telling reporters “I’m on the side of Israel. I’ve been on the side of Israel, really, my whole life, and we’re going to get a solution, and it’s going to be a solution that’s good for everybody.”

Macron, whose nation led the current wave of Palestinian recognition, told the POTUS that if he wanted to truly win the Nobel Peace Prize, he could do so only upon ending the IDF campaign in Gaza, as per Times of Israel.

He made his comments at the onset of his meeting with leaders of the Muslim world, stating that all the parties will “see if we can do something about” ending the war in Gaza.

Trump linked the effort to free the hostages seized during Hamas’ 7 October 2023 assault, saying “We want to stop that. We want to get our hostages back, or their hostages back.”

Commenting on Paris’ move to recognise Palestinian sovereignty, he echoed his statement from the UNGA, aligning with the Israeli position and said “I think it honours Hamas and you can’t do that because of October 7. You just can’t do that.”

Macron replied that “nobody forgets the 7th of October,” but asked, “after almost two years of war, what is the result ”

While he gave his support to Israel’s targeting of Hamas leadership, and argued that Jerusalem’s move for their elimination was indeed a “great achievement,” there has been little reduction in the number of terrorists in the war-torn enclave.

He added “you have as many Hamas fighters as you had the first day. So, it doesn’t work to dismantle Hamas. This is not the right way to proceed. So, we need a full-fledged process.”

The French head of state thus insisted on a political solution for resolving the crisis, contrasting with Trump’s more emphatic backing of Israel.

Macron later sharpened his point in an interview with BFM TV, saying that if Trump wished to win the Nobel Peace Prize, he must end the Gaza war.

“There is one person who can do something about it, and that is the US president,” he said. “And the reason he can do more than us, is because we do not supply weapons that allow the war in Gaza to be waged. The United States of America does.”

(UNI)