French President Emmanuel Macron said during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Paris that the relocation of the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem led to "people dying" and did not advance peace, reports Haaretz.
The two leaders said they discussed Iran's growing influence in the region and the 2015 nuclear deal in the 90-minute long meeting.
Macron said that France shares Israel's concerns about Iran. The French president stressed the importance of the Iran deal but said it should be complemented by an additional agreement that would target Iran's ballistic missile programme and Tehran's activity in the region. Macron noted that the two leaders agreed to set up joint work groups to coordinate efforts.
Netanyahu said at the press conference that he didn't ask Macron to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. "I didn't ask France to withdraw from JCPOA because I think it will be dissolved by weight of economic forces," Netanyahu said about the 2015 accord.
"My interest is not this or that agreement but to make sure Iran does not have nuclear weapons and the last thing anyone wants is to have this theocratic dictatorships have a nuclear arsenal," Netanyahu said.
The prime minister said that the "most important thing is to get Iran out of Syria".
The French president also said that moving the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem provoked violence and did not promote peace. "If this leads to people dying it’s not a celebration," he said. Macron said that France was interested to help find a solution to the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
About the Palestinian issue, Macron said he voiced in the meeting France's position, which is a "long-term and just solution of two-states with Jerusalem as a shared capital". Macron said he told Netanyahu that he was worried about the threats to the peace process, while condemning any violence against civilians and stressing France's "commitment for the security of Israel."