Aviram Bellaishe
Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA), Apr. 29, 2025
“The Western attempt to differentiate between the “jihadist terrorist” and the PLO-type “nationalist fighter” reflects a fundamental failure to understand the conflict.”
Here is France’s position, it is clear: Yes, to peace. Yes, to Israel’s security. Yes, to a Palestinian state without Hamas.
– French President Emmanuel Macron, April 2025
This terse tweet masks a policy – or more broadly, a growing problem in Europe itself. The countries currently leading the move to recognize a Palestinian state – France, Spain, Ireland, Norway – are not doing so in a rational political process, but due to domestic political pressure: tumultuous demonstrations, a public arena dominated by Muslim voices, and militant campuses.
Unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state has become an act of domestic appeasement – and just for that reason, it constitutes a dangerous strategic misstep.
It is born out of reactivity, not responsibility. It is motivated by the need to appear moral, but ignores the destructive consequences – for Israel’s security, regional stability, and for the future of the Palestinians themselves.
Europe: “Localization” of the Palestinian State
France: Politics Under a Threat
In France, where about 6.8 million Muslims live (about 10 percent of the population), the Israeli–Palestinian conflict has become a major domestic issue. After Hamas’s October 2023 attack, Macron at first expressed support for Israel – but very quickly shifted gears. The declaration of support for a Palestinian state, in the midst of the fighting, was aimed no less at domestic than external ears. …SOURCE