Political Observer & Almost Marx comment.
The Headline and Sub-headline are descriptive of the ‘reportage’ of Benjamin Barthe and Philippe Ricard:
Headline: France is still finding its bearings with the war in Gaza
Sub-headline : In two and a half months of conflict, President Emmanuel Macron has made a series of missteps and confused initiatives, struggling to grasp the scale of the carnage caused by Israeli strikes on the Palestinian enclave.
How might The Reader even begin her approach this ‘Journalistic Monstrosity’ of 2,787 words? The first four paragraphs provide a preliminary sketch, a study, for the final rhetorical canvas?
The war in Gaza has shown no signs of de-escalation, with Israel pledging to “intensify” the fighting. French President Emmanuel Macron, just before Christmas, returned to the region for a visit to Jordan where, in keeping with tradition, he shared a Christmas meal with French troops deployed abroad. It was Macron’s third visit to the Middle East since the outbreak of hostilities, when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.
The French president’s previous trips – first to Israel, Egypt and Jordan two weeks after the attacks; then to Dubai for COP28 and Qatar in early December – highlighted how difficult it has been for France to find its stance on the conflict. His visit to the troops taking part in Operation Chammal, which fights against the Islamic State (IS) organization in Syria and Iraq, was also to be understood in this context.
“French officials are still trying to figure out where they stand,” said a specialist of the region, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “They’ve realized that their message isn’t getting through because of how inscrutable their positions are considered.” An official from the Elysée Palace, who also asked for anonymity, said: “We haven’t changed, events have.”
Over the past two months, French diplomacy has continually fumbled, alternating between missteps and confused initiatives, as if Paris, long in tune with Middle Eastern realities, had suddenly lost the region’s pulse.
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That Reader encounters the eternal stand-by of ‘Journalistic Metaphysics’! Note that I have put in bold font , in the above four quoted paragraphs, examples of this style of Journalism. This is aided by sub-titles, collected here, with the word count
Setting the tone: The word count 368; A collection of Rhetorical Snapshots:
October 12 with Macron’s address, a grave tone, massacre committed by Hamas, hostages paraded like trophies, Macron, who went on to express his compassion for the Israelis, Israel has the right to defend itself, killing over 1,300 people, the president empathized with only one side. The tone was set, October 24. The death toll in Gaza now stood at 6,000, international coalition against the Islamic State (IS) organization in Iraq and Syria, of which France is a member, “also fight against Hamas.”, the philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, as the newspaper Libération claimed in early December? To equate Hamas with the absolute evil…
‘Reality check’ The word count 368. Rhetorical Snapshots:
“Honestly, it wasn’t a brilliant idea,” said a senior Arab leader, Macron’s advisors tried to rectify the situation, Macron had a “reality check” discussion, a level-headed Italian-Swiss with a long experience in the Middle East, would fuel polarization and misunderstanding, Israel had carte blanche to wage a war without rules, Macron listened attentively., accompanied by Patrick Durel, Alexis Le Cour Grandmaison, an Arabist formerly, to limit the fallout., that Macron had been misunderstood, quite a stir within the French diplomatic apparatus., long nicknamed the “Arab Street,”, Nicolas Roche, stationed in Iran,
The Foreign Ministry’s sudden remobilization: The word count: 379. Rhetorical Snapshots:
The Elysée and the Foreign Ministry immediately sought to contain this quiet rebellion., Anne-Marie Descôtes, “duty of loyalty.”, their mailing lists to avoid leaks, says something about the prevailing feverishness,” commented one diplomat, was a “real malaise” between the ministry’s “neoconservatives,”, The Foreign Ministry, which had been bypassed, was suddenly remobilized., Three focal areas were identified:, Macron pressured his teams to organize the event in less than a week., UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Kenyan President William Ruto, Macron called for a “very rapid humanitarian pause” and for “working towards a ceasefire.”, with the carnage underway in Gaza, where 10,000 people were now dead and 700,000 displaced., Humanitarianism is impossible without politics,” , lamented Hugh Lovatt, a first visit to Gaza to support UNRWA employees traumatized by the death of nearly 100 of their colleagues under Israeli strikes, made a remarkable speech.,
‘Magic formula’ The word count 424: Rhetorical Snapshots:
the horror of the bombardments on Gaza entered the president’s vocabulary., But “de facto, today, civilians are being bombed. De facto, these babies, these ladies, these old people are bombed and killed. There is no reason for that and no legitimacy. So we do urge Israel to stop.”, which marked the beginning of a belated rebalancing spurred by the ongoing events, strained relations with Netanyahu, criticized the French president for making a “serious mistake, factually and morally.”, Macron prefers to contact the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, or opposition figures such as Yair Lapid., Prior to the war in Gaza, Macron had shown little interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict., The French president was more interested in the Abraham Accords,He paid no attention to the fact that these agreements were contributing to weaken the Palestinian Authority, Macron has made it a habit to lean on the European Union as a channel of influence for a declining France., The weight of the Holocaust has forced Germany to align itself with Israel, as have certain Central European capitals such as Budapest and Prague.
‘The Gaullo-Mitterrandian line’ The word count: 384 : Rhetorical Snapshots:
“France has lost the singularity that enabled it to balance the European position with the capitals most sensitive to the Palestinian cause, such as Ireland, Belgium and Spain,” said a diplomat in Brussels., the man saving Europe’s honor is Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Denis Bauchard, a former French ambassador to Jordan, observed: “We carry little weight, despite having clearly refocused our positions. We make the right choices at the UN, along Gaullo-Mitterrand lines, but Arab capitals don’t give us credit for it.”, On December 5, Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas’s political wing in Gaza, was sanctioned by Paris., Does the alleged mastermind of the October 7 attack have hidden accounts in France? “No, of course not,” said a diplomatic source, “It’s political posturing, but symbolically, it’s important.”, On the other hand, no Arab country sent an emissary, even those that had established diplomatic relations with Israel and whose aversion to Islamist movements was well known, “Macron is too fond of public initiatives and spetacle politics,” said Lovatt, of the European Council on Foreign Relations.,
Note to The Reader: have Benjamin Barthe & Philippe Ricard arrived at a point of a verifiable political critique, or something resembling such?
‘Failed 5-star cast’ the word count: 322, Rhetorical Snapshots:
The relaunch of the political process, the third pillar of the Macron plan, led to a previously unreported event:, discreetly organized with a dozen players from Israeli and Palestinian civil society., the Elysée was counting on the presence of such respected figures as Hanan Ashrawi, a veteran of the Madrid negotiations (in 1991), But this 5-star cast could not withstand the test of reality., Even the former Lebanese culture minister Ghassan Salamé, who had been approached to lead the debates, bowed out., only two Palestinians took part in the round table on December 10 – employees of NGOs with little notoriety, “This round table was a joke,” said one participant with a sigh, “a show totally detached from reality.”,
The same language for 30 years, The word count 272 .
I will end my polemical commentary/critique with the final sentence offered by Benjamin Barthe & Philippe Ricard:
A timid first step for French diplomacy, which has been sputtering the same language on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for years.
Some further observations on Macron from September 6, 2023:
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