Macron’s Palestine stunt plays to the Arab street as anti-Semitism grows and Jews emigrate. Mr. Macron, heal your own country!
Last May, Marine Le Pen, the right-wing French politician, gave an interview to i24, an Israeli news channel.
“I am very concerned about the distance that Emmanuel Macron is creating with Israel, if I may put it this way, precisely at the worst possible time. At a time when Israel is fighting a war against terrorism, when it needs the support of its friends, and France has traditionally been a friendly country toward Israel . . . I have seen Emmanuel Macron shift his positions on Israel in a very dramatic way.
“I remember he intended to form an international coalition against Hamas, and then I saw him withdraw his participation in a demonstration against anti-Semitism.”
Marine Le Pen has worked hard to separate herself from her father, the avowed, unapologetic anti-Semite Jean Le Pen. Nevertheless, her own political credentials and anti-immigration stances did not persuade many French Jews — until more recently, specifically in the wake of the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7, 2023.
The cynic would say that Israel and fighting anti-Semitism became attractive to Le Pen because it crossed over with her (legitimate) position on Islamic radicalism and her (less legitimate) xenophobic anti-Muslim stance.
All this may be true, but it doesn’t change the fact that Macron’s government has not only been terrible on the Israel-Hamas war almost since the beginning, but his government has also largely turned a blind eye to the deadly anti-Semitism that has plagued France since at least 2006, and has led to the sustained migration of French Jews to Israel and North America.
When a criminal throws a French Jewish woman off her balcony to her death and essentially is permitted to walk free, it sends a clear message to Jews in France: Not only aren’t you necessarily physically safe here, the law won’t protect you either.
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” and while Le Pen leveraged rampant anti-Semitism to make her anti-Islamic message, she also spoke forcefully against anti-Semitism and for French Jews.
Now we come to French President Emmanuel Macron — whose party severely underperformed in France’s most recent elections. He has staked out the leadership in a growing European movement to recognize a State of Palestine next month at the UN.
One by one, the dominoes have fallen since Macron made his declaration. Most recently it was Australia, a country where during a violent demonstration in October, 2023 in Sydney, Jews were told to go back to the gas chambers, and where the firebombing of synagogues seems to have become common.
Le Pen was on to something.
Make no mistake: recognizing the State of Palestine is political theater. In fact, much of what the UN does is theater.
How else does one explain a 47-year-old “interim peacekeeping force” that has neither been interim nor kept the peace? We refer to the UN’s southern Lebanon force, UNIFL. At least two major wars have occurred under its watch, not to mention the growth and proliferation of Hezbollah and the daily rocket fire onto civilians in Israel from Oct. 8, 2023 until November, 2024.
Or the UN’s withdrawal from Rwanda when slaughter broke out in 1994, or the UN’s withdrawal from the Sinai, paving the way for the Six Day War in 1967.
Or, let’s take Gaza today.
For those like Macron who condemn Israel (but, as an aside, provide no path or support for how Israel can meet the standards he sets out), where is his condemnation of the UN?
Why hasn’t the UN — the very institution that Macron believes is so important for him to recognize Palestine at — been able to broker peace? The UN has the power to try. It has not. It has kept Palestinians in a state of perpetual refugees, and thus encouraged them to foster the fantasy of a “right of return” and the end of Israel. The UN is not interested in making peace between Israelis and Palestinians. On this, Macron is silent.
The recognition of the State of Palestine at the UN will not bring peace to Palestinians, it will not rebuild Gaza, it will not provide security for Israel.
It will bring notoriety to Macron. It will boost the erosion of Israel in international circles. It will not stop Israel from defending itself, just because its reputation is in tatters.
Israel only has to replay the videos of Oct. 7, 2023, the videos that the perpetrators themselves proudly took, shared and live-streamed of cold-blooded murder, of hostage taking, of body burning, of death and destruction.
Because of stunts like Macron’s announced recognition of a State of Palestine, the circle of conflict will continue. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has already noted that it was Macron’s announcement of intent that ended Hamas’ participation in ceasefire negotiations. Macron extended the war.
Due to Macron’s ill conceived move, more Palestinians will die because Israel has a more powerful arsenal to defend its citizens and because terrorists, especially Hamas, now learn from Macron that its violence is rewarded. Its years-long effort at building subterranean terrorist infrastructure will have no negative diplomatic consequences.
Quick reminder: If Israel did not invest in building bomb shelters, the daily missiles from Hezbollah for a year-and-a-half, not to mention Iran’s ballistic missiles, would have left hundreds of thousands of Israelis dead.
Why didn’t Hamas build its own bomb shelters?
That’s a question for those mourning the Gazan casualties, including ourselves.
We have stated on this page that Israel’s continued warfare in Gaza is not good for Israel and its citizens. We have called for Netanyahu to take his military victories and withdraw, leaving with a wide swathe of no man’s land while Israel and its military consider the best next steps. Israel’s reservists — whose families and children are subject to permanent trauma — need the respite. Talk to these loyal families. They will tell you.
We have also articulated on this page our repugnance over some of the international community’s dismissal of what occurred on Oct. 7, 2023; over the UN General Secretary’s inability to acknowledge the mass murder and rape; over the international community’s refusal to holds Hamas accountable for the terror and the war it itself unleashed.
Enter Emmanuel Macron.
He has become the hype man for the UN’s moral and tactical failings even he continues to claim that he opposes anti-Semitism. Everybody does, these days. It’s only Israelis they hate. Macron’s move to isolate Israel helps ensure that more anti-Semitism will occur in his own country, a country where most of the anti-Semitic perpetrators are male with ethnic origins in the Maghreb.
Perhaps it is easier for Macron to focus his attention on Israel instead of his country’s own ethnic tensions and economic problems. Jews, ironically many from the Maghreb, will continue to emigrate from France — currently at a rate of 1,000 per year. Is that what Macron wants? It is certainly what the anti-Semites in France want.
Macron’s planned recognition of Palestine hurts Israel. It hurts France even more by accelerating the death of France’s identity as a major pillar of Western culture. Mr. Macron, heal thyself! Heal your own country!
© IJN 2025
