French President Emmanuel Macron has declared that France will recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly this September. In doing so, Macron is signaling a break from the United States and most of the West, placing France firmly on the side of premature, unilateral diplomacy over hard-headed realism.
From the comfort of Élysée Palace, he portrays this move as part of a “historic commitment to a lasting peace” and insists that only a two-state solution—featuring a demilitarized Palestinian entity that recognizes Israel—can bring stability to the region.
The arrogance of that assertion would be breathtaking if it weren’t so dangerous. Macron is prescribing medicine for the Middle East while his own republic is riddled with illness. France is a nation fractured by Islamist extremism, paralyzed by rising antisemitism and teetering on the edge of civil unrest in many of its suburbs. And so, the idea that this president, of all people, should be dictating terms to Israel—one of the few democracies in the region and one that less than two years ago suffered the single worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust—is an affront to basic logic and moral clarity.
France’s own house is not in order. Macron’s record on antisemitism and communal violence within France is nothing to boast about. Since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, incidents of Jew-hatred have surged across France. Within just 18 days of those attacks, more than 700 antisemitic crimes were reported. Jewish schools and synagogues require police or military protection. Entire Jewish communities live in fear, while a growing number quietly make aliyah to Israel, escaping a France that no longer feels like home.
The country’s banlieues—suburban ghettos surrounding major cities like Paris, Lyon and Marseille—are incubators for radical Islamism. Police officers and firefighters are attacked routinely. French law is barely enforceable in some of these zones, which are effectively governed by a mix of religious dogma and gang violence. Multiple French governments have tried and failed to integrate these areas into the broader social fabric. Macron’s administration has talked tough, but the results are negligible.
And yet, he dares to tell Israel—whose citizens face daily threats from Iranian-funded terror groups, suicide bombers, and rocket and missile fire—how to manage its borders, security and future.
Is it Macron’s goal to reward terror with statehood?
In justifying France’s recognition of Palestinian statehood, Macron says it’s necessary to “move toward peace” and end the “unbearable status quo.” But what is unbearable is the notion that Hamas, having launched an unprovoked massacre on Oct. 7—murdering 1,200 men, women and children, and taking more than 250 hostages—would be rewarded with de facto statehood through international recognition.
Macron claims that he supports a demilitarized Palestinian state that recognizes Israel. But where, exactly, does he see such a Palestinian partner? The Palestinian Authority is weak, corrupt and increasingly irrelevant. Elections haven’t been held since 2006. Its 89-year-old president is in the 19th year of a four-year term. Hamas rules Gaza with an iron fist and remains unapologetically genocidal. Its charter calls for the destruction of Israel. Palestinian textbooks and TV glorify violence, demonize Jews and offer no real preparation for peaceful coexistence.
This is not principle. It’s cowardice dressed up as diplomacy.
French officials say recognition will be “symbolic” and not a green light for immediate independence. But symbolism matters, especially to extremist terrorists who interpret Western gestures not as incentives for compromise but as validation of their violent tactics. Recognition at this moment, without demanding serious political reform or permanent disarmament from the Palestinians, will only embolden Hamas and other radicals who thrive on rejectionism and bloodshed.
There’s something grotesquely hypocritical about Macron demanding that Israel create a new Arab state within its heartland while France itself cannot even manage peaceful coexistence within its borders. The French Republic is struggling to uphold its national identity, protect its Jewish citizens and confront radical Islam within its own cities. France has not faced the equivalent of an Oct. 7 on its soil—not yet—but it is in no position to advise a nation that has.
Moreover, Macron’s lectures are not morally neutral. They come steeped in decades of European discomfort with Jewish sovereignty and a reflexive belief that the State of Israel is always the obstacle to peace. They are motivated by post-colonial guilt, the economic appeasement of Arab powers and the political expedience of pacifying restive Muslim populations at home.
This is not principle. It’s cowardice dressed up as diplomacy.
The Israeli government, rightly, has condemned Macron’s move. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that France’s recognition of a Palestinian state would “reward terror” and provide Hamas with “a huge prize.” The U.S. State Department, under both Democratic and Republican administrations, has repeatedly affirmed that Palestinian statehood must come through direct negotiations with Israel, not unilateral impositions from European capitals.
A Palestinian state under current conditions would be a failed state from day one. It would be armed and financed by Iran; it would shelter terrorists; and it would serve as a launchpad for future wars. It would merely guarantee more conflict.
France’s recognition of “Palestine” will not advance peace. It won’t help Israelis or the Palestinians. It will only deepen the perception that the West rewards violence, undermines its allies and lacks the courage to face the true enemies of stability: Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran.
If Emmanuel Macron wants to restore France’s relevance in global diplomacy, then he should start at home by eradicating the Jew-hatred festering on French soil, dismantling the radical Islamist networks flourishing in his cities and restoring a sense of shared national identity. Until then, his moralizing lectures about the Middle East are not only hollow but dangerous.
Let Israel defend itself. Let the Jewish state chart its own future. And let those with burning houses stop telling others how to build.
