France and Italy summoned Israeli ambassadors after UN peacekeepers struck by Israeli forces

French Ministry for Foreign Affairs says Israel’s targeting of UNIFIL troops was “deliberate.”

PARIS — France and Italy are demanding answers from Israeli envoys after United Nations peacekeepers in south Lebanon were wounded in separate incidents on Thursday and Friday, amid Israel’s expanding ground invasion of its northern neighbour Lebanon.

The two countries, which supply large amounts of troops to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in south Lebanon known as UNIFIL, summoned Israel’s ambassadors to their respective capitals in response to incidents in which four peacekeepers were injured, one of whom required hospitalization. No French or Italian troops were wounded.

France’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs condemned the “deliberate” attack on Friday, which it said constitutes a “serious violation of international law.”

Israeli forces have launched attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, injuring four and sparking international outrage. Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the Head of UN Peacekeeping, has stated there is reason to believe some of the firing from Israel was direct – a chilling assertion that strips away any pretence of accidental engagement.

The Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Simon Harris has described Israel’s attack on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon as a breach of international law.

Speaking to BBC News in Washington DC, Harris said it was an “extraordinarily concerning development”.

The IDF has acknowledged that its troops “opened fire in the area” of the base in Naqoura on Thursday after instructing UN troops to “remain in protected spaces”.

Ireland has 379 troops in Lebanon as part of the UNIFIL peacekeeping mission. None were hurt in Thursday’s attacks but two Indonesian soldiers were injured.

The taoiseach described attacks on three United Nations Interim Force positions in Lebanon (UNIFIL) as “really dangerous, despicable attacks on peacekeepers”.

He added that the IDF had positioned themselves at a UNIFIL outpost which was being manned by about 30 Irish peacekeepers, but had since moved following UN and US intervention.

The taoiseach said that he was protesting “at the highest levels” in relation to the attack, and said that the United Nations, and all of the countries making up the peacekeeping mission should “speak with one voice” about what he called Israel’s breach of international law.

However, he said he was concerned that “Israel doesn’t listen”.

Harris added that Israel had “a right to defend itself, a right to live in peace and security” and that no-one disputed that but that “international law has to be followed, and proportionality also has to be due”. He said neither of those tests were currently being met.

This reckless aggression against neutral parties is but the latest in a litany of crimes that have seen Israel run amok across the Middle East. From the ongoing genocide in Gaza, where thousands of civilians have been slaughtered under the guise of self-defence, to the invasion of Lebanon and the assassination of Iranian officials, Israel’s actions have become increasingly unmoored from any semblance of international law or basic human decency.

The Israeli Defense Forces, in a display of doublespeak, claim these attacks on peacekeepers were in response to an “immediate threat”. One wonders what threat could possibly justify firing upon the very forces tasked with maintaining peace and stability in the region. It’s a justification as hollow as it is insulting to the intelligence of the international community.

As sirens wail over central Israel and unmanned aircraft cross from Lebanon, you cannot help but see the bitter irony. A nation that claims to seek peace has become the primary destabilising force in the region, sowing chaos and destruction wherever its military might reaches.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, thousands remain trapped in Jabalia refugee camp, victims of Israel’s relentless ground operation. The humanitarian crisis deepens by the day, yet Israel’s war machine grinds on, seemingly impervious to the suffering it inflicts.

Even as US President Joe Biden weakly asks Israel not to hit UN peacekeepers – a request that should be unnecessary between allies – Israel’s actions speak louder than any words of restraint. The deaths of 22 civilians in Beirut last night stand as a stark testament to Israel’s disregard for innocent life.

France, Italy, and Spain have rightly condemned these attacks as “unjustifiable”, but words alone ring hollow in the face of such unbridled aggression. The international community must move beyond statements of condemnation and take concrete action to rein in Israel’s out-of-control war machine.

And it is at this juncture I find myself in the peculiar position of heaping praise on President Macron – a sentence I never thought I’d pen. Yet credit where credit is due. The French President has doubled down on his call for an arms embargo on Israel, stating that “stopping the export of weapons” used in Gaza and Lebanon was the only way to end the fighting. “We all know it. It’s the unique lever that would end it,” Macron declared at a summit of European and Mediterranean leaders in Cyprus. He went further, accusing Israel of deliberately targeting UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, calling it “absolutely unacceptable”.

This, dear readers, is what leadership looks like. It’s a far cry from the craven silence emanating from Downing Street where up to the point of publishing this article, Prime Minister Starmer, a self-proclaimed “staunch ally” of Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right government, has maintained a deafening silence on these attacks and blatant breaches of international law. His refusal to condemn Israel’s actions is as predictable as it is despicable. But then again, his lack of condemnation for Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, which has now claimed over 41,000 lives, speaks volumes about his moral compass – or rather, the conspicuous absence of one.

Starmer’s Labour, once the Party of international solidarity and human rights, now stands as a grim testament to political cowardice. In his desperate bid to appear ‘statesmanlike’, Starmer has sacrificed principles on the altar of perceived pragmatism, turning a blind eye to atrocities that would have his predecessors howling with righteous indignation. His silence in the face of such flagrant violations of international law is not just a failure of leadership; it’s a betrayal of everything the Labour movement once stood for.

The clock is ticking, and the fate of countless lives hangs in the balance. It’s high time for the international community to move beyond toothless condemnations and take decisive action to stop this runaway train of destruction. For if we do not act now, we risk not just the lives of those currently under siege, but the very foundations of international law and order.

The world stands at a precipice, and leaders like Starmer, through their silence and inaction, are pushing us ever closer to the edge. The question is no longer whether we can afford to act, but whether we can afford not to. As Macron has shown, there are concrete steps that can be taken. The embargo he proposes is not a panacea, but it’s a start – a clear signal that the international community will no longer stand idly by as Israel flouts international law with impunity.

Paul Knaggs