French President Emmanuel Macron ignited a political firestorm Thursday by declaring that France will formally recognize a Palestinian state this September at the United Nations General Assembly—becoming the most powerful European nation to take that step amid mounting international fury over the war in Gaza – despite it being started by Hamas, an internationally recognized terrorist organization that says it would do commit its October 7 massacre again and is still holding civilians hostage in Gaza.
“The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved,” Macron posted on X. “Given its historic commitment to a just and sustainable peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the state of Palestine. Peace is possible.”
Macron’s declaration followed a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and precedes a France-hosted UN conference next week aimed at reviving the two-state solution. France joins more than 140 countries that have recognized Palestinian statehood, including a growing number of EU members.
But the timing and tone of Macron’s move—coming just days after the United States abruptly pulled out of ceasefire negotiations in Doha, accusing Hamas of bad faith—sparked immediate and furious backlash from Israeli leaders.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu issued a blistering response, accusing Macron of rewarding terrorism in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 massacre.
“We strongly condemn President Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state next to Tel Aviv in the wake of the October 7 massacre,” Netanyahu said. “Such a move rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became. A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel — not to live in peace beside it.”
Other members of Israel’s political establishment followed suit.
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli posted a mocking tweet featuring a GIF of Macron being slapped by his wife during a recent trip to Vietnam, sarcastically captioned: “On behalf of the Government of Israel, here is our response to your recognition of a Palestinian state.”
President @EmmanuelMacron,
Here is the appropriate response to your recognition of a Palestinian state as as a reward for Hamas terrorism. pic.twitter.com/Ve6c5Op0hN— עמיחי שיקלי – Amichai Chikli (@AmichaiChikli) July 24, 2025
The Prime Minister’s media adviser Jonatan Urich posted the same image, declaring, “There’s only one state from the river to the sea.”
Defense Minister Israel Katz called Macron’s move “a disgrace, surrender to terror, and a prize and wind at the back of the murderers and rapists of Hamas,” accusing France of trying to weaken Israel.
“There will be no Palestinian state,” declared Education Minister Yoav Kisch. “The out-of-touch Macron has announced he is giving a prize to terror and to Hamas. For shame.”
Opposition figures also piled on. Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman called the recognition “a prize for terror.” Transportation Minister Miri Regev mocked Macron’s judgment, claiming Paris “looks more like Kabul,” and added: “Maybe first recognize a state of France before you start fantasizing about Palestine.”
Even the outgoing chair of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yuli Edelstein, suggested France’s domestic politics were being warped by Islamic immigration. “I wish the French people luck in fighting for their identity and freedom,” he said.
Boaz Bismuth, expected to replace Edelstein, fired back bluntly: “Israel will recognize [a Palestinian state]… in France.”
The lone supportive voice from within Israeli politics came from Hadash-Ta’al leader Ayman Odeh, who praised Macron’s move as “a necessary step for a people that has suffered so much.”
France’s move adds pressure on Israel’s already embattled government, which is facing growing diplomatic isolation as images of Palestinian suffering continue to dominate headlines and stoke outrage around the globe. Just this week, France joined over two dozen mostly European countries in condemning Israel for its restrictions on humanitarian aid to Gaza and the deaths of Palestinians attempting to reach food supplies.
While Macron has long claimed to support Israel and fight antisemitism, his patience has visibly worn thin in recent months. He has been increasingly vocal in his criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza and has pushed for a renewed commitment to a two-state solution.
France’s recognition move may be symbolic for now, but it represents a sharp pivot—and a potential tipping point—in the international response to Israel’s war in Gaza. With Washington stepping back and European anger intensifying, Macron’s declaration could mark the beginning of a broader shift in Western policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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11 Responses
Just and sustainable peace? What has he been smoking?
Israel should attack France and immediately France will surrender
His wife needs to smack him across the face again, only harder this time.
Perhaps an arab state within France ?
Golfer, #3, you stole my thunder! Haaaa!
France has been this way for millenia! In 1285 they burned 24 wagonloads of handwritten Sefarim. (כ’ סיון has been declared a יום צום as a result!) Throughout the ages France has been antisemitic. Macron only said it because 3/4 of his French Fries are arabs. If only we could unite and boycott French products; if only! If only!
Israel should recognise the German “Westbank” Alsace as German territory.
After 41 years George Abdallah Lebanese national who murdered an Israeli and an US diplomat has now been released. Some years ago Three left-led French municipalities declared him an “honorary citizen”. What does that tell you about the French?!
This should not surprise anyone.
There is indeed already a “Palestinian State.” It is located within the boundaries of the country we know as France. How many of its cities are now run by Palestinians and governed by Sharia law. The capital of this “State” is located in those Parisian suburbs where French policemen dare not go and where French law does not apply. Macron – tend to your own home and garden and don’t presume to lecture others.
Yaapchik, you are correct in stating that the French ate long time antisemites, but I have to correct your parenthetical note. כ’ סיון was set as a תענית because of the blood libel in Blois and renewed because of the גזירות ת”ח ות”ט. The תענית of ו’ חקת was instituted after the burning of the sefarim.
Let him make peace with his wife before he tries to make ‘peace’ with Hamas…
Yaapchik – 100% correct, only it happened in Tammuz, and a fast was declared for Erev Shabbos Chukas. (20 Sivan was about the ת״ח ות״ט massacres.) Among the irreplaceable treasures destroyed that day were countless handwritten works of the French בעלי התוספות that were lost forever. The place the sefarim were burned is now the main courtyard of the Louvre, and the king who ordered it (Louis IX) was made a saint…