(Reuters) -If U.S. President Donald Trump really wants to win the Nobel Peace Prize, he needs to stop the war in Gaza, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday.
Speaking to France’s BFM TV from New York, Macron said that only Trump has the power to put pressure on Israel to end the war.
“There is one person who can do something about it, and that is the U.S. president. And the reason he can do more than us, is because we do not supply weapons that allow the war in Gaza to be waged. We do not supply equipment that allows war to be waged in Gaza. The United States of America does,” Macron said.
Trump on Tuesday gave a combative, wide-ranging speech to the United Nations General Assembly that rejected moves by Western allies to endorse a Palestinian state, saying that would be a reward for Hamas militants.
“We have to stop the war in Gaza immediately. We have to immediately negotiate peace,” Trump said.
Discussing Trump’s speech, Macron said: “I see an American president who is involved, who reiterated this morning from the podium: ‘I want peace. I have resolved seven conflicts’, who wants the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Peace Prize is only possible if you stop this conflict,” Macron said.
Several countries, including Israel, Pakistan and Cambodia, have nominated Trump for the annual prize for brokering peace agreements or ceasefires. Trump himself has said he deserves the Norwegian-bestowed accolade that four White House predecessors received.
(Reporting by Geert De Clercq and Manuel Ausloos in Paris, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
