Macron’s Palestinian recognition plan faces strong opposition at home

Poll shows nearly three-quarters of French citizens are opposed to President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to recognize unilateral Palestinian statehood at the United Nations this week.

By World Israel News Staff

A wide majority of French citizens oppose plans by Paris to recognize unilateral Palestinian statehood, according to a new poll published last week.

French President Emmanuel Macron has signaled that France is prepared to formally recognize the Palestinian Authority’s claim to statehood, dropping Paris’ long-running opposition to unilateral steps and insistence that statehood be part of a final status agreement with Israel.

France is expected to announce its recognition of Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly’s High-Level Week, which begins on Monday.

However, the planned recognition of unilateral statehood, coming in the midst of the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas terror organization, has little support in France, a poll conducted recently by Ifop found.

The survey’s results were published last Thursday by the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), which commissioned the poll.

Nearly three-quarters (71%) of respondents said they opposed the government’s plans to recognize Palestinian statehood without the return of the 48 remaining Israeli hostages, and without Hamas’ surrender.

Just 29% said they were in favor of immediate recognition.

Respondents were more sharply divided on whether France should recognize Palestinian statehood in the event that the hostages are returned and Hamas surrenders.

A total of 38% said France should recognize Palestinian statehood immediately once the hostages are returned and Hamas surrenders, while 33% opposed recognition even in this scenario.

Majorities of voters of all of the major parties in France opposed immediate recognition, except for supporters of the La France Insoumise, the far-left party led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

The poll also found that 68% of French citizens believe that antisemitism constitutes a threat to French society as a whole, and not merely to the Jewish community.

However, a significant minority of respondents said that during the war in Gaza, attacks on French Jews are legitimate.

Nearly one in five (19%) of all respondents, and 31% of respondents 18-24, agreed with this statement.