President Reuven (Ruby) Rivlin and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi are expected to arrive this morning (Thursday) in Paris, the French capital, and meet with French President Emanuel Macron. The main issue to be discussed in the talks between the parties will be the issue of Lebanon and the Israeli demand for the enforcement of UNIFIL’s mandate and Resolution 1701.
Kochavi is expected to present Macron with IDF target maps in Lebanon and make it clear that in the next confrontation with Hezbollah, the country will be hit very hard. Israel hopes that the message will be conveyed from France to Lebanon.
“The State of Israel reserves the right and duty to protect its citizens from any threat posed to it – both by Iran and by the extremist organizations operating in the region,” Rivlin said.
“The international community must recognize the threat posed by Iran and pursue an uncompromising line with its nuclear presence and support for terrorist organizations. This is the arena in which international community intervention is required – and not in the cynically and internationally motivated field of international law to weaken Israel.”
President Rivlin meets with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier // Photo: Reuters
In Kochavi’s security briefing to the Austrian president, he highlighted the Iranian issue and presented the failures of the current nuclear deal, which allow Iran, according to Israel, to make significant progress in the coming years in the scope and quality of centrifuges and the amount and quality of enriched material. Kochavi also stressed the lack of oversight in the field of nuclear weapons development.
Following their meeting with the Austrian Chancellor, the senior officials attended a special ceremony at the Holocaust Memorial in Vienna together with President van der Blan.