Debate contributions by Bernard GUETTA

Mr President, with their backs to the wall, they killed, killed, killed by the thousands. But now this regime no longer has a penny, its Russian ally is far too busy martyring Ukraine to be able to really help it, it no longer has regional relays, it has been humiliated by its impotence in the face of the Israeli-American offensive and now has only to meditate on what Talleyrand said about this kind of situation: "You can do anything with bayonets," he said, "except sit on them." So, some of the pillars of this theocracy will attempt half-gestures of openness, others are already dreaming of Deng Xiaoping, refounding their dictatorship in wild capitalism, still others will seek to get along with Donald Trump, who we know does not hate despots, provided they bring him money, oil and courtesan flattery. This regime will of course refuse to die and will kill and still kill, many, savagely, bestially. But he's in agony. Financially and ideologically exhausted, it will not survive.

Madam President, it is pointless to say that we are spreading our differences, and yet we are. Unfortunately, it is time, really time, to tell you, Mr Trump, that your inconsistency is as irresponsible about the Middle East as it is about Ukraine. You can't let yourself be turned around by the bluff of a Putin promising Ukraine to destroy it if it doesn't kneel down. You cannot betray Europe by abandoning the Ukrainians, and if you unfortunately do not want to give them a single dollar, at least do not seal their fate with this distant successor of Ivan the Terrible. If you claim to bring eternal peace to the Middle East, stop, yes, stop, Mr. Trump, forget the colonization of the West Bank and say anything about Hamas, congratulated the day before yesterday on eliminating the "bad guys" in Gaza and now threatened with a sending of your troops. You have completed this week of breaking all self-confidence and it is decidedly without you that we must be and act.

Mr. President, peace, the two states... No, not yet. But if it were at least a stop to the bombing, a cease-fire and the release of the hostages, how happy it would be! Let's cross our fingers. Let's hope so. But let's also try to understand: Why did Donald Trump suddenly twist Benjamin Netanyahu's arm? Why did he give back to the United States this role of arbiter that he had renounced during his presidency? It's simple. The Gulf countries had told him: "If Israel annexes the West Bank, it will be the end of the Abraham Accords," the only success Donald Trump has ever had. If Israel does not apologize for bombing Doha, it will be the end of the contract of trust between the Gulf and the White House. Then the Europeans, France and Great Britain in the lead, also changed the situation by amplifying the movement of recognition of Palestine. Humiliated by Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, Donald Trump risked losing ground in the Middle East. Suddenly isolated, he had to, like everyone else, take into account a balance of power. We Europeans must learn from this. In the face of men who want us so little good, in the face of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, we showed our muscles and our strength by finding new allies and no longer allowing, once, the slightest incursion into our airspace.

Madam President, what did these murderers of yesterday in Jerusalem want? They wanted, they would say, to avenge the deaths in Gaza, the bombings, the hunger and the destruction of all cities, villages, schools and hospitals. But what is the object of these bombings that they wanted to avenge? This is all too well known: avenge the bloody barbarism of October 7 and the intolerable hostage detention that followed. The proof is thus given to us of the total absurdity, no, pardon, of the total imbecility of this odious tragedy. Vengeance only leads to vengeance. Our role, as Europeans, we who are neither pro-Israeli nor pro-Palestinian, but pro-peace, is to tirelessly hammer out that there is no other solution than the coexistence of two states. It is a utopia, many will say, but no, no and no! This is an imperative that all fanatics will have to resolve before either of these two peoples has lost everything, even hope.

Madam President, nothing is done, alas, nothing is done, but it does seem that his eyes are opening. Disappointed, he says, by Vladimir Putin and especially worried about the tightening of ties between China and Russia, Donald Trump seems to finally understand - start to understand - that he needs allies to face the Sino-Russian understanding. We will see if this president takes action now, but one thing is for sure: Since the humiliation suffered by Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, we, the European Union, have tightened our ranks, stood in front of Britain and tied Canada, Australia, Japan and many other major democracies to our battle for freedom. We are creating new balances of power that affirm a new pole of power on the international stage. But everything remains to be done. The martyrdom of Ukraine and our own security demand much more from us.

Madam President, when Benjamin Netanyahu says that Palestinians should "have the ability to govern themselves, but not the ability to harm Israel," he is right. Unless it means - and there is every reason to fear - that the Palestinians should not have a state. This people would then live with the ambition to meet next year in Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine. Nothing would make him give up that dream, not even two thousand years of waiting, and so it would not be peace that needs to be built today. If, on the other hand, the Israelis knew how to propose to the Palestinians to negotiate the conditions for peaceful coexistence between their two states, the complete victory they had just won would allow them to base their security on the nobility of that offer. Because it is the winner, Israel can make this new war the last, but it would still be necessary for this Prime Minister to finally know how to convince himself of it.

Madam President, since they will read this text, I am addressing them, the leaders of Algeria: Imprisoning an elderly and sick man, whose only wrong is to have written things you don’t like, is first and foremost immoral, and, to put it mildly, shameful! You must release Boualem Sansal within an hour, especially since in keeping him in detention you seem to be saying that your power and the whole of Algeria would be at the mercy of a historical writing on the demarcation of the borders of Morocco and Algeria by the colonial power. Claiming that these writings could threaten Algeria’s territorial integrity is both ridiculing you and lowering your country, which can withstand much more than these few pages of writing. And then, gentlemen, this detention harms Algeria’s international image far more than you can see. It is not just the many readers of Boualem Sansal who are outraged: there are all the countries of Europe, which are wondering without understanding what accounts you are settling there, where you want to lead Algeria and which allies you are looking for. There is our common history, more than two thousand years old, that of the Mare Nostrum, which cannot accept that you will do everything, always everything, absolutely everything to prevent a united Maghreb from working with Europe united to the common prosperity of our peoples. It is human, gentlemen, to err, but diabolical to persevere.

Mr President, in Gaza, Israel is reprehensible, but is it in Tehran? In Gaza, we must condemn increasingly senseless bombings that have long been aimed no longer at dismantling Hamas, but at destroying much of what is to become Palestine. In the face of these war crimes, we must express our reproach and draw the consequences. But the Israeli strikes against the Iranian theocracy, its nuclear program, its cadres and its infrastructure, on the other hand, are part of a fully justifiable response. It has been 40 years since this regime committed Israel to annihilation. It has been organizing, arming and financing its regional subcontractors for 40 years. And at a time when this totally detestable theocracy was so close to getting the bomb, should Israel have done nothing? To ask the question is to answer it. As much as Israel is criminal in Gaza, so much is it in its right in Tehran. But when this war comes to an end, his prime minister will have a choice to make. It will either have to open a new century of confrontations by opting for the chimera of Greater Israel, or define with the Palestinians the conditions for coexistence between the States to which these two peoples are entitled. It is on this choice that the fate of Israel will depend.

Before I say such stupidities, I would simply suggest that you read what I have been writing since October 7 and the bombing of Gaza. I have never stopped denouncing the bombing of Gaza and, during my election campaign as an abominable macronist in the last European elections, I called – which I have been doing constantly for many, many years and continue to do – for recognition of Palestine.

Madam President, it is no longer enough to condemn, it is also necessary to propose. Our Parliament, the High Representative and the Member States have stated, and very clearly since last night, that the bombing of Gaza and the blockade of food aid must stop. This is to be welcomed, but the European Union must now go further and work towards the opening of peace negotiations. I would therefore like to defend here two proposals made by the "Two-State Solution for Israel and Palestine" intergroup. In Brussels' appeal, the Council should solemnly remind Israeli and Palestinian leaders of their obligation to end this century-old conflict through the coexistence of two states. By hosting Strasbourg gatherings next September, the Parliament should promote a rapprochement of the Israeli and Palestinian civil society. These two proposals could form a very broad consensus. I therefore call on you to promote them in your respective political groups.

Mr President, Commissioner, there is injustice and, worse still, there is what it shows. Injustice is the fact that the Algerian courts have sentenced Sansal, a Franco-Algerian writer who is only accused of crimes of opinion, to five years in prison. Sick, elderly, innocent of any crime and simply hostage to tensions between his two homelands, Boualem Sansal must be released. The Algerian authorities must all the more understand the urgent need for this injustice because it is the result of two dramatic failures, which we must overcome, for the common good of Africa and Europe. Were it not for this unacceptable and permanent conflict between Morocco and Algeria, the Maghreb would now be the California of the Mediterranean: rich, happy and prosperous. With a southern bank of the Mare Nostrum as united as its northern bank, the Maghreb and the European Union could finally join forces to create jobs throughout Africa, industrialise this continent sufficiently and soon enrich it, so that its children no longer have to want to leave it at the risk of their lives. France and Algeria, the whole Maghreb and the whole EU with them, have everything to do together for their common prosperity. Let us not delay any longer in taking action and let us begin by putting an end to an injustice by liberating Boualem Sansal!

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, as coordinator of the Renew Europe Group in the Subcommittee on Human Rights, I propose to add an oral amendment at the end of paragraph 4 of the annual report on the situation of human rights and democracy in the world. This oral amendment concerns the situation of the writer Boualem Sansal and would read as follows: “condemns the arrest and sentencing by an Algerian court to five years in prison of the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal; calls for his immediate release and calls on the Algerian authorities to see the urgent need for his release;”

Madam President, the dictator or freedom, the irremovable Erdoğan or the hundreds of thousands of Turks who demonstrated in Istanbul on Saturday do not know who will win. The battle remains uncertain, but the first thing these tense faces of hope remind us is that freedom is the best shared value in the world, a value that is not European, but universal. These faces then tell us that there is definitely no – but no! – incompatibility between Islam and democracy. Of culture or faith, Turkey is Muslim and its aspiration for democracy shows us that the war that threatens is not that of civilisations. Contrary to what the extreme right-wings hammer out, it is not Islam and Christianity that are at stake today, but democracy and its adversaries, those in the White House as well as in the Kremlin, who hate everything we cherish: Enlightenment, separation of powers, freedom of the press, the arbiter state and the liberation of women.

Madam President, highly respected Mr Navalny, ... (the speaker speaks in a non-official language) Navalny, you didn't die in vain. In a deliberate sacrifice, you returned to Vladimir Putin, your assassin, to tell the world that all Russians, far from it, supported neither this war of aggression, nor the dictatorship exercised by the sword and theft. Many thought then that you were committing madness, because Russia, they said, does not like freedom, but the yoke, that of the tsars, Stalin or Putin. Many still think so, but they are wrong, because why is Putin so violently repressing dissenting voices, not decreeing a general mobilization and appealing to Mr. Kim's proxies? It is simply that he fears the reactions of his people, a people who do not want to die for imperial fantasies and sees daily prices rise, interest rates soar and public services increasingly wither. Kremlin mercenaries are progressing, it is said. Yes, it's true, but how many meters a week? Because he does not win this war, Vladimir Putin loses it. Because it does not lose this war, Ukraine wins it. Yes, you were right, dear Alexei Anatolyevich, not to believe in the invincibility of this little Stalin. But what you couldn't imagine is that a president of the United States would today proclaim his friendship with Vladimir Putin and sing about his humanity. You who loved freedom so much, you could never have believed that there would be an American President to haggle his aid to Ukraine with such rapacity and unawareness of danger. We couldn't have imagined it either. But we are always at the side of Ukraine and admire ever more in you a new Sakharov.

Mr. President, well no, President Trump: Contrary to what you say, Vladimir Putin is not sad that this war took place. This war, he wanted and prepared for a long time, because he would like to return to Russia his lost empire. The only thing he is sad about is that the heroism of the Ukrainians prevented him from walking to the Polish border, to the border of our Union. So stop talking to us, Mr. Trump, about the pain and humanity of your friend Vladimir, because, if this war made him suffer so much, he would have to stop him only to recall his troops. And then one more word, Mr President. If there is a reproach to make to your predecessor, it is not to have supported Ukraine, but to have always supported it too little, too late. History will judge. But be careful that your country and the world do not already make the most severe judgments about your collusion with this little Stalin.

Madam President, the outrage, yes, of course. The indignation of seeing Algeria plunge back into censorship and arrests of opponents, the indignation of seeing it imprison a renowned writer, seventy-year-old, holder, to quote Kateb Yacine, of this spoils of war that is French; The indignation of seeing Algeria deprived of the freedom that independence promised it. Indignation, yes, but sorrow even more. Because sea, mountain, desert, gas and oil, Algeria should be only abundance and beauty. Few countries have so much natural wealth and Algeria benefits in addition to a mixture of cultures like no other: Kabyle and Arab, Ottoman and French, Muslim, Christian and Jewish. Algeria could be both the most universalist of countries and California, but today, it is unfortunately only the loot of predators cultivating historical resentment in order to better plunder their country, gag it and ruin it.

Mr President, 'But she is Russian!', Vladimir Putin's friends protest. Well no, Crimea is above all Tatar and was many things before Russia conquered it. "But precisely, she had become Russian," they exclaimed, forgetting that she had become Ukrainian after being Russian. "But it was only a game of writing, a modification of the internal borders of the USSR!" they exclaimed. Well, no, this modification had a very great meaning, because when Khrushchev ceded Crimea to Ukraine, it was an indemnity he paid him, a war indemnity imposed by the Holodomor. Russia cannot deny this and, in any case, it is Crimea understood that Ukraine had regained its independence within internationally recognized borders. History is a complex, debatable and eternally discussed thing. International law is another one, clear, clear and indisputable.

Mr President, it is not unfortunately not impossible: maybe Will the new Syrian leaders eventually set up jails and try to impose the veil, but how would that be a certainty? Why should we rule out that they want to rebuild their country rather than plunge it back into blood? Why should we assume that they would aspire to impose on Damascus the theocracy that is collapsing in Tehran? This new power, which opens the doors of prisons, Syrians support him because his victory marked the end of the state of barbarism. Nothing is excluded, but for now, Syria is crying with joy. We see that Vladimir Putin is not invincible, and the suspicion that this release gives rise to is aimed above all at making people forget the alliance that had united the Kremlin, the Iranian theocracy and the extreme European right to this clan of murderers, thieves and torturers.

Mr President, geography, history and ideology, everything is between Iran and Russia. Everything but the similarity of their diets. The psychiatric internment of the opponents, it was Yuri Andropov, the boss of the KGB, who invented it, but Ayatollah Khamenei pushed it to perfection by making the refusal to wear the veil a disease of unveiling. Yes, a display of exhibitionism – you had to think about it, really. Just as the reality of power in the USSR belonged to the apparatus of the Central Committee and not to the elected institutions, it does not belong to Tehran, to the republican institutions, but to the Shiite clergy. These two regimes are the same and the Russian president, Russia's supreme leader, understood this so well that he now relies on the mullahs, as he has always relied on an Orthodox patriarch whose blessing is worth gold. These regimes, everything brings them together, and first of all their growing weakness.

Madam President, southern Lebanon is not Gaza. Attacking a real army pointing its missiles at your territory and making so daily use of it is not the same as bombing an open-air prison from which no one can escape. In Gaza, Israel ignores the law; against Hezbollah, he defends himself; But the right is not everything. By weakening Iran's proxies to such an extent, Israel is also breaking up one of Lebanon's political forces, a criminal but essential force that provided that country with a semblance of stability. As soon as it destroys this status quo, Israel must propose another one, and as soon as it attacks Iran, it must also propose one to the entire Middle East. Of that, Mr Netanyahu, you say nothing. Where are your proposals? What are your plans? The law is not without responsibility and, for the time being, Mr. Prime Minister, you are not demonstrating it.

Madam President, how can we fail to understand? Israel is such a small country, there were so many victims that day, murdered, raped, kidnapped, and the thinking heads of Hamas had so coldly and willingly filmed and broadcast the horror of this pogrom that it is miraculous that only half of the Israelis gave in to hatred and the desire for revenge. The other half refused. The other half was able, despite everything, to keep a cool head, but how can we not understand that intolerable bombings took place this year? We can only understand it. However, understanding is not sharing and even less approving. At such a distance from this tragedy, we owe these victims something other than tears and compassion. We owe it to them to do everything in their power to stop the flow of blood, to increase the number of deaths and to deepen hatred. We must never call ourselves pro-Israel or pro-Palestinian. We must always say that we are pro-peace, relentlessly reaffirming that the coexistence of two states, Israeli and Palestinian, is no more utopian than was the Franco-German reconciliation on which we founded our Union, that it is our goal and the ambition of all men of good will, and that it will come to light, since we will fight for it and that necessity will make law.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, it is no longer a question of deploring this chain of crimes. It is no longer a question of condemning, but of acting, and to return for that to the requirement of a lasting peace and the coexistence of the two peoples who dispute this land that is said to be holy, to the only possible solution: that of two states defended by the United Nations, the Arab League, our Union and its 27 capitals. A utopia, we always say more, yes, but necessary and no more utopian than the Franco-German reconciliation on which our Union was founded. If we want Europe to become a player in the international arena again, we must restart the peace process that has been bogged down for 30 years. This is an imperative, and I am pleased that our President has recently reiterated our commitment to this two-State solution and that Kaja Kallas' mission letter includes the march towards the coexistence of Israel and Palestine.