UK, US and Allies Offer Israel ‘Steadfast Support’ in Joint Statement

GUARDIAN INTERNATIONAL: Quint group – which also includes France, Germany and Italy – says ‘terrorist actions’ of Hamas must be ‘universally condemned’

The leaders of the UK, US, France, Germany and Italy have released a joint statement expressing “steadfast and united support” for the state of Israel and “unequivocal condemnation” of Hamas.

It follows an unprecedented attack on Israel from Gaza on Saturday by the Palestinian militant group, with Israel responding with airstrikes and a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip.

The statement was released after a call between the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak; the US president, Joe Biden; the French president, Emmanuel Macron; the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz; and the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. Together the five countries comprise the Quint international organisation.

“We make clear that the terrorist actions of Hamas have no justification, no legitimacy, and must be universally condemned,” the statement reads. “There is never any justification for terrorism. » | Hayden Vernon | Monday, October 9, 2023

The Guardian View on Macron’s Pension Reform: Legal but Harmful

THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: France’s constitutional court has approved the president’s plans to raise the retirement age. That will not stop the protests

A woman passes a burning barricade after a demonstration against Emmanuel Macron’s pension plans in Paris on 14 April 2023. Photograph: Getty
As France’s constitutional council debated the legality of Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular pension reform last week, massed ranks of riot police stood by in central Paris. It was an unsettling sign of the times. Mr Macron’s reckless decision to use executive powers to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 – avoiding a parliamentary vote he thought he might lose – has turned a highly charged national debate into a wider crisis of democratic legitimacy. On Friday, the nine members of the great and the good who make up the council found themselves at the eye of the storm.

Following the court’s verdict that the reform is constitutionally sound, Mr Macron will hope to draw a line and move on. On Friday evening, his embattled prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, optimistically tweeted: “The law has reached the end of its democratic process.” That may technically be true, but the political reality is very different. » | Editorial | Sunday, April 16, 2023

La laïcité face au mur d’incompréhension

LE FIGARO: Editorial. En accordant un entretien à Al-Jazira, M. Macron a voulu faire œuvre de pédagogie. L’effort est méritoire, mais surmonter le ressentiment du monde arabo-musulman et le scepticisme des pays anglophones requiert davantage.

Editorial du « Monde ». Six ans, bientôt, après la tuerie de Charlie Hebdo, deux semaines après l’assassinat du professeur d’histoire Samuel Paty, décapité pour avoir montré des caricatures de Mahomet à ses élèves, et quelques jours après le massacre de trois fidèles à la basilique Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption à Nice, il est clair que la conception française de la laïcité se heurte à un mur d’incompréhension dans le monde arabo-musulman et dans les pays de culture anglophone. Loin de dissiper ces doutes, le discours d’Emmanuel Macron sur le séparatisme, prononcé aux Mureaux le 2 octobre, puis ses propos lors de la cérémonie d’hommage national à Samuel Paty, les ont encore accrus. » | ÉDITORIAL | lundi 2 novembre 2020