"I will always remain a friend of Israel," French President Francois Hollande said in Hebrew at the end of a brief address he delivered upon landing at Ben-Gurion Airport Sunday afternoon.
Hollande, welcomed with full pomp and ceremony and a great deal of warmth by President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, said France will not surrender to nuclear proliferation and that Paris will stand by its demands – and continue with sanctions – until Iran gives up on a nuclear weapon.
Hollande arrived in Israel as head of a massive delegation, including seven ministers and nearly 200 businessmen, aides and journalists, just three days before the P5+1 – of which France is a member - will meet again in Geneva with Iranian negotiators.Iran, he said, "is a threat to Israel, to the region, and to the whole world."
Iran will be a central topic of discussion during his meetings here, and France's tough stand on Iran means that the visit is taking place at a time where there is a great deal of appreciation in Jerusalem for Paris' position on this matter.
Regarding the Palestinian issue, Hollande said he pinned a lot of hopes on the current negotiations. "You will need courage," he said. "But you have courage."
"I came to deliver a message of support of France, based on our long history, a history of joint fate, but also of suffering, pain and tragedy," he said.
Netanyahu welcomed Hollande by saying that Zionism was influenced a great deal from the lofty ideals of the French revolution: Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité (liberty, equality, and fraternity). He added that other elements Zionism took from the French revolution were the belief in progress, human rights, and the "sovereignty of the people, not of the ruler."
Israel was the only state in the region that sanctified those values, he said, adding that Israeli-French ties are long-standing and deeply rooted.
"We appreciate France's decisive contribution to our security during the first and fateful years of our state," he said, saluting Peres for playing a large role in establishing those ties.
"We are preserving and developing those ties," he added.
France, according to Netanyahu understands very well the dangers of extremist factors who do not shudder from violence and terrorism to achieve their aims. He praised Hollande for the "courageous decision" to fight Islamic radical terrorists in Mali, and for the tough stance Paris has taken toward Syria and Iran's continued attempts to get nuclear arms.
"It is forbidden for Iran to get nuclear arms," he said. "This will not only endanger Israel and other states in the Middle East, but also France, Europe and the whole world."
Netanyahu said that when he went with Hollande to Toulouse last year after the terrorist attack there, and saw his unwavering stand against anti-Semitism, and his warm relations with the French Jewish community, "I saw in front of me a leader with principles and deep humanity."
Peres was also effusive in his praise of France.
"The people of Israel owe France a great debt for standing by our side in times of peace and of war," he said. "For allowing the development of Israel's defensive force. Especially in the first years of the state, when we needed France more than at any other time."
Peres, who was instrumental in forging close ties with Paris during the early years of statehood, said that with the support of its citizens, its soldiers, its writers and its leaders, France enthusiastically "allowed us to defend ourselves as a sovereign state and to build a new society. We will never forget it. Thank you from the depth of our hearts. The true historic friendship between our two people is founded upon mutual values and a deep sense of mutual respect. We share a legacy of fighting slavery and rejecting tyranny."
Hollande told the assembled government ministers and dignitaries that there was great empathy for Israel's position in his country and that he wished to strengthen relations between the two peoples.
"I want to bring you a message of support from France based on joint history, suffering, pain and tragedy," the president said. "With 150,000 French Jews living in Israel, I have come to give a new push to our ties, especially in business and cultural spheres."
After a welcoming ceremony at Ben-Gurion Airport, Hollande will go directly to the President’s Residence in the capital for a formal reception and meeting with Peres.
He will then lay a wreath at the grave of Theodor Herzl, visit Yitzhak Rabin’s grave, and go to Yad Vashem.
In the evening he has a private meeting planned with Netanyahu, followed by a joint press conference, and then dinner with the prime minister.
On Monday, following a visit to Jerusalem’s Old City, he will go to Ramallah for some five hours, after which he will return to Jerusalem, address the Knesset and attend a state dinner hosted by Peres.
On Tuesday, after visiting the graves at the Har Hamenuchot cemetery in Jerusalem of the victims of the March 2012 Toulouse terrorist attack, he will take part in a joint economic meeting in Tel Aviv and meet French Israelis at Tel Aviv University.
He will leave Tuesday afternoon.
JPost.com
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