On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron not only recognized a Palestinian state but also rewarded terrorism.
At the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, France — joined by the United Kingdom, Canada, Portugal, and Australia — announced its recognition of a Palestinian state. Macron chose to declare this recognition during Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and less than two years after the Oct. 7 massacre (the largest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust). This rampage by the Hamas terrorist group has triggered an unprecedented wave of antisemitic attacks worldwide.
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“The time has come. This is why, true to the historic commitment of my country to the Middle East and to peace between Israel and the Palestinians, I declare that today France recognizes the State of Palestine,” Macron said at the General Assembly on Monday.
For France to extend statehood recognition is not peacemaking. It is moral bankruptcy and political cynicism at its most dangerous. It is a signal to terrorists who fight against Western democracies that violence is the solution. Instead of seeing Hamas terrorists as the source of their suffering, Palestinian public opinion will gain inspiration and follow them. This symbolic decision risks creating a “butterfly effect,” which will likely destabilize Western democracies’ resilience against terrorism.
Macron offers no answer to this most basic question: Who does France envision ruling this “state”?
Macron’s popularity is collapsing at home, squeezed between the far Right and far Left. By posturing as the West’s liberal conscience, he seeks to appeal to progressive and pro-Palestinian voters while distracting from domestic weakness.
Macron’s attitude is a blatant double standard, considering that France is still intent on maintaining its colonialist legacy. France has continued to exploit its former colonies on the African continent to preserve its privileged geopolitical position. French President Charles de Gaulle crafted the CFA franc monetary system in 1945. This legally obliged 14 newly independent French African colonies to put 50% of their foreign currency reserves into the French treasury, with their currency being printed under the supervision of the central Bank of France.
According to the late French President Jacques Chirac, this exploitative arrangement — over four and a half centuries — has proven to be a major boost to French banks and the country as a whole, while depriving former African colonies of their wealth and growth potential.
France also maintains 13 overseas territories and refuses to recognize the demands of Basque separatists seeking to create an independent homeland within its national borders.
If France does not even commit itself to the same standards it seeks to impose on its own possessions, then what could be the reason for Macron seeking to divert international attention against Israel?
Macron seeks to strengthen his geopolitical position while the United States continues to dominate the world stage. President Donald Trump closed a major trade deal with the European Union several months ago, which many European ministers and the public at large view as an unbalanced compromise favoring the U.S.
In the face of increasing irrelevance, Macron has sealed a strategic partnership with Qatar — a chief financier of Hamas that has given the terrorist group billions of dollars since 2007. Qatar also plays a duplicitous role as a mediator for the negotiations to release Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip while hosting Hamas’s leadership in its country.
Qatar has agreed to channel billions of dollars into start-ups and investment funds in France between 2024 and 2030. The investments will range from energy transition and artificial intelligence to hospitality, culture, and other key sectors.
Macron must stop empowering a state sponsor of terrorism like Qatar and heed the words of United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed in a 2017 interview, where he warned against the West’s failure to enforce measures against pro-jihadist extremists who migrated from the Middle East.
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“There will come a day,” said Zayed, “that we will see far more radical extremists and terrorists coming out of Europe because of the lack of decision-making, trying to be politically correct or assuming that they know the Middle East and they know Islam and they know the others far better than we do.”
Macron might have entered the U.N. headquarters thinking that his recognition of Palestinian statehood was a historic act of diplomacy, but Hamas terrorists are welcoming it as a victory. Western democracies will surely pay the price of this act for years to come.
Bradley Martin is the executive director of the Near East Center for Strategic Studies. Follow him on Facebook and X @ByBradleyMartin.
Dr. Liram Koblentz-Stenzler is a senior researcher at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at Reichman University, Herzliya, and a visiting scholar at Brandeis University. Follow her on LinkedIn.