French President Emmanuel Macron, center, departs after a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 24, 2025, in Washington. (Alex Brandon/AP)
"We have to recognize the legitimate right of Palestinian people to have a state," Macron said in an interview broadcast Thursday on Israel’s Channel 12. "If you don’t give a political perspective, in fact, you just put them in the hands of those who are just proposing a security approach, an aggressive approach." He went further, denouncing Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza City as "absolutely unacceptable" and "a huge mistake."
The comments infuriated both Israel and the United States, which argue that recognition emboldens extremists and rewards Hamas, the group responsible for the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre.
Macron, however, insists recognition is the only way forward, reviving the long-stalled two-state solution. More than 145 countries already recognize Palestine, and European allies, including the U.K., Canada, Australia, Portugal, Malta, Belgium, and Luxembourg, are expected to follow France’s lead in the coming days.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump after a meeting at the White House on April 7, 2025, in Washington. (REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt)
Goldberg added bluntly: "He may perceive himself that way, but I don’t think many in Washington spend a lot of time thinking about him."
Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, called Macron’s maneuvering "a blatant power-grab." She told Fox News Digital: "The fact is that would-be Emperor Macron has no clothes. The promise he is waving around of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ ‘promise’ to soon hold elections and abandon dictatorship and terror screams ‘scam.’"
"At home, foreign policy topics are not driving the current political troubles, which are primarily focused on France’s need to reduce its fiscal deficit," Samaan noted. "I think Macron’s initiative on Palestine has more to do with his personal aspirations in terms of legacy. He’ll leave office in 2027."
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The proposed Gaza force, modeled on UNIFIL in Lebanon where France has long played a role, would demand French resources and likely face opposition in parliament from both the far left and far right, and without U.S. endorsement, Israeli buy-in, or domestic consensus in France, the initiative could stall before it begins.
Efrat Lachter is an investigative reporter and war correspondent. Her work has taken her to 40 countries, including Ukraine, Russia, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, and Afghanistan. She is a recipient of the 2024 Knight-Wallace Fellowship for Journalism. Lachter can be followed on X @efratlachter.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/macron-pushes-gaza-initiative-unga-opens-raising-questions-about-his-motives-rivalry-trump