‘Reward for terrorism’: Israel criticizes French intention to recognize a Palestinian state

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called President Macron’s announcement a “reward for terrorism” that distances peace.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Israel sharply criticized a French intention announced Wednesday to recognize a “State of Palestine” in the near future.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar reacted to French President Emmanuel Macron’s revelation, during an interview on France Channel 5. “We must move towards recognition, and therefore, in the coming months, we will do so,” Macron said.

In response, Sa’ar stated on X, “Unilateral recognition of an imaginary Palestinian state by any country, in the reality known to us all, would be nothing but a reward for terrorism and a strengthening of Hamas.”

Sa’ar also scoffed at Macron’s claim that such a move would help protect the Middle East from danger, such as Iran. “Things like this not only do not bring peace, security and stability closer in our region, but on the contrary, they will push them further away,” the Israeli minister wrote.

Macron pointed to June as the likely target date, when France and Saudi Arabia co-host a UN conference in New York with the ambitious goal of solving the Middle East conflict by creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

“I won’t do it for unity or in order to please someone,” Macron said. “I’ll do it because I think that at some point, it would be fair. And also because I want to take part in a collective dynamic, one that allows everyone who defends ‘Palestine’ to also recognize Israel.”

The Palestinian Authority (PA) was delighted with the French statement.

Recognition “would be a step in the right direction in line with safeguarding the rights of the Palestinian people and the two-state solution,” the PA’s foreign minister, Dr. Varsen Shaheen, told AFP.

The UN General Assembly’s resolution in December setting the June 2-4 conference explicitly called for establishing a roadmap at its end in order to implement the two-state solution.

Ignoring the decades-long history of Palestinian terrorism, culminating in the Hamas-led slaughter of 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals on October 7, 2023, that sparked the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, the resolution also slammed Israel exclusively for all violence in the region and demanded that the Jewish state immediately cease its “military attacks, destruction and acts of terror.”

It also used standard anti-Israel language, calling Judea and Samaria “illegally occupied Palestinian territory.”

While several European countries have recognized a Palestinian state over the course of the war, including notoriously anti-Israel Ireland and Spain, they are minor powers in the EU in comparison to France, which is considered a co-leader of the continent as well as an ally of the Jewish state.

European powerhouses Germany and England, however, backed Israel’s position on the issue, saying recognition of a Palestinian state could come only as part of a bilateral peace process.