US Criticizes Macron for Opting to Recognize Palestinian State

(Bloomberg) — President Emmanuel Macron said France would recognize a Palestinian state in September, prompting a backlash from the US and Israel.

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“In keeping with its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the State of Palestine,” Macron said in a social media post late Thursday.

The official announcement will be made on the sidelines of the next annual gathering of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, he added.

Macron’s decision was described as “reckless” by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Still, it comes amid growing pressure on Israel over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, particularly from European and Arab states.

Macron’s announcement led to a harsh response from Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who rejects Palestinian statehood. The Israeli government argues its offensive in Gaza is necessary to topple and disarm Hamas after the militant group killed 1,200 people and abducted 250 in the Oct. 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel. Of the hostages, 50 are still in Gaza, with roughly 20 thought by Israel to still be alive.

Talks over a ceasefire in Gaza stalled again on Thursday, with the US and Israel withdrawing their negotiating teams from Qatar. They were there holding indirect negotiations with Hamas.

“We strongly condemn President Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state next to Tel Aviv in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre,” Netanyahu said in a social media posting. “Such a move rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became.”

France’s move “only serves Hamas propaganda and sets back peace,” Rubio said. “It is a slap in the face to the victims of October 7th.”

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the US and the European Union.

Macron, as well as several other world leaders, is increasingly angered by the Israeli military’s continued attacks in Gaza and Netanyahu’s restrictions on allowing humanitarian aid to enter the territory, with reports of emaciated babies, children crammed into soup queues and men tussling over bags of flour.

“The 2.1 million people trapped in the war zone that is Gaza are facing yet another killer on top of bombs and bullets: starvation,” the World Health Organization’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said this week.