The United States delivered a clear message of opposition at the United Nations Security Council on Thursday, pushing back against France’s stance by declaring it would “firmly reject any attempt to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot had spoken a day earlier, reaffirming France’s advocacy for a two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He further revealed that France, together with Saudi Arabia, would host an upcoming United Nations conference on the matter, scheduled for June.
In reaction, the U.S. embassy sharply criticized the idea of granting statehood to the Palestinians at this time, asserting it would effectively serve as “a reward for Hamas’ shocking attack on Israel.” The statement referred to the May 21st shooting at the Jewish Museum in Washington, where Elias Rodriguez murdered Israeli diplomats Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim.
“The United States will do its part to help forge this new reality alongside Israel and our Arab partners. But at the same time – the United States stands with Israel in unequivocally rejecting any effort to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state or impose conditions on Israel,” the embassy stated.
Israeli Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana also criticized France’s position, arguing that granting recognition to a Palestinian state amounts to legitimizing terror: “recognition of a Palestinian state is a reward for Hamas for the atrocities of October 7, and a resounding message to terrorist organizations around the world to murder, burn, rape and kidnap – this is the way.”
French President Emmanuel Macron had earlier hinted that his government could proceed with recognizing a Palestinian state in June, suggesting that such a move could lead to greater diplomatic reciprocity in the region.
“We need to move towards recognition (of a Palestinian state). And so over the next few months, we will. I’m not doing it to please anyone. I’ll do it because at some point it will be right,” he said during an interview on France 5 television.
“And because I also want to take part in a collective dynamic that should also enable those who defend Palestine to recognize Israel in their turn, something that many of them are not doing,” the French president declared.
{Matzav.com}