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Macron Wants to Recognize a Palestinian State? He Should Start by Recognizing 21st Century France
French President Emmanuel Macron is seen at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. Photo: Reuters/Martial Trezzini
French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that France will recognize a Palestinian state.
Well, that makes perfect sense. After all, we’re talking about an indigenous people whose ancestral homeland was stolen by foreigners with no real connection to the region. I am, of course, referring to — France.
Surely, the cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo are turning over in their secular graves with laughter.
France’s move isn’t truly about expressing solidarity with oppressed minorities — though that’s how it plays in progressive media circles. Macron’s decision is not humanitarian, and it has nothing to do with sympathy for starving children in Gaza. Nor is it rooted in a genuine desire to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As usual, it’s a domestic political calculation: an attempt to appease France’s growing Muslim population at the expense of its Jewish minority.
Macron knows full well that Muslims in France now vastly outnumber Jews. He’s pulling yet another rabbit out of the Élysée Palace hat: recognition of a Palestinian state. He’s naively hoping it might buy him some quiet in the streets of Marseilles and Saint-Denis.
Let’s be clear: this is not about peace in the Middle East. It’s about buying stability at home — even if it means rewarding the ideological supporters and perpetrators of October 7th.
But here’s the core fallacy: any radical Muslim elements that Macron hopes to win over with these declarative gestures aren’t interested in symbols. They want a new reality. And that reality, in some cases, is not a liberal republic. It’s an upgrade of the French state to align more closely with their religious and social values. Anyone who believes that recognizing a Palestinian state will create social harmony in France will soon discover that some areas of Paris, Lyon, and Toulouse are already informally governed by social norms rooted in Sharia law.
We’re talking about areas where women can’t walk outside in a tank top. Where pork can’t be sold. Where the Holocaust can’t be taught, and LGBTQ rights are unmentionable.
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité? Macron recites these words beautifully on Bastille Day, but they are vanishing from some parts of the streets of France. Not all Muslims in France feel this way, of course. But there is a definite population that does. And Macron’s “recognition of Palestine” is a smokescreen to cover just that.
American Jews, who are fighting to preserve liberal Jewish life in the face of rising campus-born antisemitism disguised as “progressive justice,” must take note: what starts at the Élysée doesn’t stay in France. When leaders surrender to ideological blackmail in the name of peace, they always sacrifice the Jews first.
France — the country of Descartes, Voltaire, and Emile Zola — has become a republic that meekly removes statues, erases the legacy of the Enlightenment, and quietly bends to the sensitivities of religious extremism. And now it wants to lecture the Middle East about peace?
Perhaps it’s time France looked to its own problems first.
Itamar Tzur is the author of The Invention of the Palestinian Narrative, and an Israeli scholar specializing in Middle Eastern history. He holds a Bachelor’s degree with honors in Jewish History and a Master’s degree with honors in Middle Eastern studies. As a senior member of the “Forum Kedem for Middle Eastern Studies and Public Diplomacy,” he leverages his academic expertise to deepen understanding of regional dynamics and historical contexts.
The post Macron Wants to Recognize a Palestinian State? He Should Start by Recognizing 21st Century France first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.