"If Israel is attacked and threatened, it will not be alone. We as human beings cannot allow there to be a threat to the Jewish people and the State of Israel," former French President Nicolas Sarkozy said this week in a speech at the Academic College in Netanya where he received an honorary doctorate.
He also said the Jewish people, who waited for years to build their own state, were those who could best understand the Palestinians’ wish to have a state of their own.
But he stressed that "it’s easy to talk about peace when one is not in Israel.”
“It's not too late to bring up the question of a Palestinian state - a key issue for Israel's security. Israel cannot afford to only win wars, it must also win peace and reach out to it. I am convinced that Israeli leaders will take advantage of the opportunity to bring back hope for both nations,” he added.
The former president, whose maternal grandfather was a Jew from Salonika, said that he always felt very close to the Jewish people.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu and myself dealt with many challenging issues, and by that I mean of course the captivity of Gilad Shalit, a young Jewish Israeli soldier whom France chose to protect.”
He criticized the EU for failing to act in the civil war in Syria. “It is sad to see Europe impotent, watching as Israel acts alone and strikes Damascus from the air time and time again."
"Syrians have the right to freedom just as any other nation in the world,” he added. "I cannot accept this genocide by the Syrian leader. I thought that after all the tragedies in Europe, such things will never happen again. In Bosnia we reached 200,000 dead and only then the world began to take action. Will we wait again for such a shocking number to act responsibly? I want to believe that it is not too late to take away from Assad the weapons he is using to massacre his people.”
On Iran, Sarkozy called for a change in the rules regarding the Iranian nuclear issue, saying, "It's not too late to stop Iran and its pursuit of nuclear weapons. It does not listen to the warnings of the international community, which is dragged after Tehran into a game of meeting after meeting after meeting between experts. The cycle needs to be broken before it’s too late and we enter a war.”
In giving a doctorate to Sarkozy, the Netanya Academic College stressed that "since his first days in politics and until today Sarkozy is considered a true friend to Israel. He has reached out to Israel and its residents and urged his European counterparts to embrace the same policy."
On Thursday, Sarkozy was hosted by Israeli President Shimon Peres in his Jerusalem residence and later met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before returning to Paris.
Peres thanked Sarkozy for his great work and contribution for the State of Israel during his time as President of France. "I want to thank you on behalf of the State of Israel for your support over the years, in every position in which you served – you stood by Israel especially on the major issues especially the Iranian nuclear threat."
The Israeli leader addressed the growing tension on the Israel-Syrian border both in terms of rhetoric and military action and said, "There are too many flames in the Middle East, we must lower the flames," as he believes ‘’ both in Syria and in Israel there is no interest in war and neither side wants to see the situation out of control.’’
The two also discussed US Secretary of State John Kerry's peace initiative and President Peres said, "I hope that the efforts of the United States and Secretary Kerry succeed in restarting the process."
Peres added with a smile that, "my only complaint to you is that you came without Carla." Sarkozy smiled and said that next time the whole family will visit Israel.