France and Iran find common ground in the Middle East

French President Emmanuel Macron has acted recently as if he were trying to seek re-election … in  Yemen.

He joined high-profile, far-left politicians, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Britain’s Jeremy Corbyn, earlier this month in calling for an arms embargo on Israel. Macron said Israel “must not forget” that it was created by the United Nations and thus should respect U.N. decisions despite the institution’s proven anti-Israel bias. France has also barred Israeli firms from presenting their wares at next month’s naval arms show in Paris.

The irony is keen.

About a week after Macron’s initial push for an arms embargo on Israel, France24 published an investigation into how French ammunition was used in eight Iranian cities against civilians protesting after the killing of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who was killed for wearing her hijab wrong. The Burmese advocacy group Justice for Myanmar documented, in August, how French-manufactured aircraft were aiding the Myanmar military in committing war crimes.

Macron’s claim that Israel was created by the United Nations is, of course, false. Israel gained its independence in 1948 by defeating seven Arab armies. Macron should consider the threads he is pulling with such a sophomoric argument. Modern France gained its independence from Nazi rule through the sacrifice of the American, British and Soviet armies. Without Washington, London and Moscow, Macron would be speaking German, but no one in their right mind would say this gives these countries the right to dictate French policy.

What’s more, while France bars Israel from its naval arms show—presumably over human-rights qualms—it is hosting Turkish and Chinese companies. Turkey has committed war crimes in Syria and is actively ethnically cleansing Kurdish regions. China has locked up an estimated 2 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Turkic-Muslim ethnic groups in internment camps in what many have called a genocide.

When it comes to Iran, Myanmar, Turkey and China, Macron blatantly disregards the neoliberal values he hides behind when he attacks Israel. So, what could be motivating the French leader’s hypocrisy?

To answer this question, let’s turn to the context of the French-Israeli spat. Israel has been increasingly perturbed in recent years by alleged indirect French support to Iran. Paris has found itself on the same side as the Islamic Republic in conflicts in the South Caucasus and Middle East, albeit for different reasons.

In the South Caucasus, France has sold armored personnel carriers (APCs) and an air-defense system to Armenia despite the concerns of some Israeli analysts that they could end up in Iran or Russia, given Armenia’s close relations with both. France has ignored this risk, prioritizing competing for influence in the region with Turkey, a close ally of Armenia’s nemesis Azerbaijan.

Iran has its own reasons for increasing military support to Armenia, mainly wishing to use it as a lever against Azerbaijan. Earlier this year, Iran and Armenia reportedly signed a $500 million arms deal, including the infamous Iranian Shahid suicide drones and air-defense systems.

France’s involvement in the Middle East tells a similar story. To maintain influence over Lebanon, its former protectorate, France has tried to prop up the corrupt and incompetent Lebanese government and even supplied the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) with APCs. The problem is that the LAF is heavily infiltrated by Hezbollah. In fact, according to a report by the Alma Research and Education Center, weapons shipped to the LAF by the United States, United Kingdom, France and other European nations have been pilfered by the terrorist group. The same report alleged that some Shia units of the LAF could even join Hezbollah to fight against Israel.

Yet France has been content to ignore the hazards in a haughty and neocolonialist pursuit of influence, no matter the damage it causes.

Since before the start of Israel’s operation in Lebanon, France has been calling for a ceasefire. But if France truly cared about the Lebanese people, it would realize that Hezbollah and its patron Iran, are the primary reason the country has been turned into a barely functioning, kleptocratic terrorist-ruled vassal. Ridding itself of Iran and Hezbollah is the only way Lebanon can become a functional state.

France, however, has pushed back against such an outcome. In fact, in this conflict, the French position is so similar to the Iranian one that Mohammad Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, suggested the two countries could negotiate a ceasefire in Lebanon together.

Let’s consider one more irony, maybe the biggest one of all. Macron is siding with Islamists abroad while his government is unsuccessfully fighting them at home. He has accused domestic Islamists of planning to take over the French Republic, and France’s interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, said he would consider classifying the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is a branch, as a terrorist organization and ban it. He also advocated for doubling efforts to fight political Islam and said the country needed to wake up to the threat it poses.

He could start by waking up his boss.