Is Macron Pursuing a Pro-Palestinian Policy?

A

t the United Nations General Assembly, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that his country recognized Palestine as a state. This announcement raised questions about Paris’s policy toward the Gaza genocide. Is Macron pursuing a pro-Palestinian policy? Has France pursued a policy based on human rights and international law since the Gaza genocide began? How do Zionist lobbies, which are very influential throughout the Western world, affect France’s policy on Palestine? What are the main factors determining Paris’s recent policy on the Israeli issue? How do the policies of France and Germany, the two leading countries in the European Union, converge and diverge with regard to the genocide in Gaza?

First, let us review the fundamental parameters that shape France’s policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Last July, French President Macron announced at the UN General Assembly that France would recognize the Palestinian state. U.S. President Donald Trump opposed this decision and disparaged Macron and France, stating that “his words carry no weight.” Indeed, it is difficult to argue that France, which is constantly losing economic and political power and being forced to abandon its former spheres of influence, particularly in Africa, is a significant player in Middle Eastern affairs.

Paris lags far behind Washington in terms of influence in the Middle East, especially when compared to the U.S.. However, France, a G7 member and one of Europe’s two nuclear powers, carries significant weight within the EU. Aware of this, Israel and the Zionist lobby harshly criticized Macron, fearing that France’s decision to recognize Palestine would prompt other European countries to follow suit. Indeed, other Western countries followed France’s lead in recognizing Palestine, tearing down another wall built by the global Zionist structure.

The influence of the Zionist lobby

France’s ability to influence Middle Eastern politics directly is limited, but it can greatly impact European politics. One factor shaping France’s policy on Gaza is the country’s increasing political instability due to the unstoppable rise of the far right, which has weakened Macron’s administration.

Elected president as the “liberal” candidate of a broad coalition formed in 2017 to curb the rise of the far right, Macron failed to resolve France’s chronic domestic and foreign policy problems, which led to the rise of the “far left” alongside the far right in the 2024 parliamentary elections and caused him to lose his parliamentary majority. With Macron weakened in this way, he has adopted a critical stance toward Israel, considering the mounting protests in France against the Gaza genocide. The decision to recognize Palestine is also a product of this critical approach.

Despite the growing criticism of Israel’s genocidal policies, France has refrained from imposing sanctions that would force Israel to back down. Compared to other EU countries, such as Spain and Ireland, France’s criticism of Israel is more cautious. This can be explained by the influence of Zionist lobbies on French politics. There is no doubt that France, home to the largest Jewish population in Europe, is strongly influenced by Zionist lobbies, both within its borders and in the United States.

Recalling how these lobbies use economic and political tools, media under their control, and other illegal methods against administrations unwilling to cooperate with Israel makes it clear why Paris refrains from taking steps that would upset Israel greatly. From this perspective, it is evident that the Macron administration in France, a country with the largest Muslim and Jewish diaspora populations in Europe, is pursuing a balanced policy, striving not to upset either diaspora too much.

Differences with Germany

In this respect, it should be noted that France differs from Germany, another important EU country. While Germany refuses to recognize the State of Palestine, France has decided to do so. While Germany opposes the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrant for Netanyahu, and its chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has stated that Netanyahu would not be arrested if he visited Germany, France has supported the ICC’s decision. While Germany continues to send weapons to Israel until mid-2025, thereby becoming complicit in genocide, French President Macron called for an arms embargo on Israel on October 6, 2024.

While Germany continued to defend Israel’s civilian massacres in Gaza under the guise of “Israel’s right to defend itself,” France began to criticize these massacres. For example, at the EU summit held at the end of October, when the Israeli genocide began, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that Germany was “in solidarity with Israel,” while French President Macron criticized Israeli policy, saying, “We believe that a comprehensive blockade, indiscriminate bombing, and more importantly, a large-scale ground operation are not appropriate ways to adequately protect the civilian population.”

At various times, Macron has called for Israel to stop bombing Gaza, refrain from killing civilians, not forcibly displace Gazans, not obstruct humanitarian aid, and secure a ceasefire. He has also described Israel’s human rights violations in Gaza as “shameful.”

Attitudes towards France

France’s critical stance toward Israel has seriously damaged relations between the Macron and Netanyahu administrations. It has also caused tension in France’s relations with countries that support Israel, notably the U.S. and Germany. For instance, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee criticized Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state, saying, “If France is so determined to see a Palestinian state, I have a suggestion: Take a piece of the Côte d’Azur and establish a Palestinian state there.”

Armin Laschet, a member of the ruling CDU party in Germany and chairman of the federal parliament’s foreign affairs committee, also expressed discomfort with Macron’s “unilateral” decision.

In response to France’s criticism of Israel’s aggression, the harshest statements came from Netanyahu’s administration. Netanyahu claimed that Macron’s criticism of Israel meant he was “supporting Hamas” and said that the French president’s policy meant he “chose to side with terrorism,” showing his intolerance of criticism of Israel’s policy of massacring Palestinians in Gaza. Tel Aviv’s intolerance of France’s critical stance was evident in November 2023 when French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot was beaten and arrested by Israeli security forces while visiting a church in Jerusalem during his visit to Israel.

Does France respect international law on Gaza?

Do the criticisms of France’s stance on Israel’s genocide in Gaza show that, as a member of the UN Security Council, France has pursued a policy respectful of international law and human rights? Has France done its part to prevent this genocide? The answer is clearly no. On October 16, 2023, France, alongside the United States and the United Kingdom, rejected the Security Council draft resolution proposed by Russia, which called for a ceasefire in Gaza. By doing so, they effectively voted in favor of allowing the massacres to continue. Subsequent votes in favor of ceasefire resolutions (except for October 25, 2023) do not mitigate Paris’ guilt but set it apart from the United States, which vetoed all ceasefire resolutions.

Another criticism of France’s policy on the Gaza genocide is the bans on demonstrations in support of Palestine and the police’s violent arrests of demonstrators during these demonstrations. Additionally, the French administration detained and deported Gassan Abu Sitta, a British surgeon of Palestinian origin and rector of the University of Glasgow, at the Paris airport in May 2024 when he arrived for a conference. Germany is claimed to be behind this decision. This is another example of France’s restrictions on activities in support of Palestine.

The greatest criticism of France’s policy regarding the Gaza genocide is that it has either turned a blind eye to or been complicit in the EU’s support of Israel’s long-standing aggression, despite France being a key leader of the EU. France’s greatest failure in not convincing Berlin to change this misguided policy is its failure to adopt effective sanctions against Israel under the EU umbrella for two years and its unconditional continuation of support for the Netanyahu administration, as the EU’s most important leadership partner. France was also very late in recognizing the Palestinian state and in taking action to prevent the Gaza genocide from taking place before the eyes of the world. It is still failing to take the necessary steps.

(Originally published in Turkish by Kriter)