France has been making considerable efforts to be the leading European power in all matters relating to the Middle East, but recently it received a type of "stop and yield right of way" sign from the White House. Following this, it decided not to raise the issue of recognizing a Palestinian state at next week's conference at UN headquarters in New York – as published in Israel Hayom.
The decision was made following a series of appeals and warnings from the American administration to the French, even though its declared title is "International Conference for Recognition of a Palestinian State."
France was involved in the ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah, after years of involvement in the region, including the maritime border agreement between Israel and Lebanon. French President Emmanuel Macron hosted at the Elysee Palace the (former?) terrorist Ahmed al-Sharaa (also known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani), who crowned himself president of Syria, thereby giving him a stamp of approval from the Western world.
On the negative aspects, Emmanuel Macron is among the more anti-Israeli speakers among European leaders regarding the war with Hamas, and he joined extremists from Spain and Ireland in demands to suspend economic relations and trade relations between the Union and Israel, including association talks that institutionalize these relationships.
Mahmoud Abbas's letter
However, the international conference that Emmanuel Macron initiated in New York, whose purpose is, as mentioned, promoting the establishment of a Palestinian state, is one step too far even for the Americans. As part of preparations for the conference, held in cooperation with Saudi Arabia, the possibility arose that Western countries participating in it would declare recognition of a Palestinian state and its leadership – Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and his government – as its chosen representatives.
American and Arab diplomatic sources confirm that the White House and the US State Department applied heavy pressure on Emmanuel Macron not to have this conference produce practical or far-reaching declarative implications. He initially rejected the pressure, and according to these sources, began checks with other European leaders regarding recognition of a Palestinian state, and apparently received approval from at least four countries for the possibility of joining such a declaration.
Here the Americans raised the tone, and in recent weeks, pressures reaching the level of real threats arrived at the Elysee Palace. According to an American source, in one of the conversations it was told to the French that if during the New York conference on US soil there would be recognition of a Palestinian state by even one Western country – this would be considered a personal insult to President Donald Trump. When the French response was not sufficient, the Americans made clear there would be a harsh response to this move.
Here they understood the situation in Paris and began trying to cut their losses. Among other things, they held conversations and briefings in Israel with journalists, and tried to emphasize the positive side and recognition of Israeli demands.
Mahmoud Abbas's letter
Israel Hayom published that France decided unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state will not be part of the summary declaration of the New York conference. A senior advisor on behalf of Emmanuel Macron presented to senior officials at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem the goals of the conference, and according to the advisor, the conference is actually intended to help Israel.
The advisor added that the vision of the gathering includes a demand for the release of the hostages, an explicit call for Hamas to be disarmed, clarification that it will not be part of the future rule in Gaza, as well as a commitment by the Palestinian Authority to stop terror salaries and incitement against Israel in textbooks. Emmanuel Macron's representative added that Arab countries that will participate in the conference will lend their support to these demands, and therefore this aligns with Israel's interests, which France, according to her, supports in its positions.
All these points are Israeli demands, which the Authority has already publicly announced its agreement to, and it demands the disarmament explicitly from Hamas. However, in Jerusalem they still believed there is a chance that Emmanuel Macron would not prevent sporadic declarations by some of the Western countries recognizing a Palestinian state.
The American sources confirmed that the pressure from the White House did its job. In addition, warnings were passed to several of the "suspected" countries as those who might recognize a Palestinian state. At least one of them responded that the UN building in New York, supposed to host the conference, is actually extraterritorial, and that it might not comply with the American demand.
Open to Israelis
The American pressure toward Emmanuel Macron's France also worked on other levels. Next week will open at Le Bourget, Paris, the International Air Show, one of the defense and civilian aviation industry exhibitions. As of now, dozens of Israeli companies are supposed to participate in the show, chiefly among them the three largest – Israel Aerospace Industries, Elbit, and Rafael.
This is one of the most important arenas, if not the most important, for promoting sales, mainly defense but also civilian, such as converting passenger planes to cargo. Thus, following the show held two years ago, deals worth more than $150 billion were signed during the exhibition.
Israeli industries attract considerable attention thanks to radar systems, air defense, missiles, and other various fields, and the Russia-Ukraine war brought enormous growth in demand for Israeli products. However, in France they tried to prevent the arrival of Israeli companies to parallel exhibitions in the land and sea sectors last year. In both cases, eventually, the arrival was permitted.
This time, following the American pressure, France did not boycott Israeli companies. There is an appeal to the court in France from anti-Israeli organizations, but so far no decision has been made to prevent the arrival of Israelis to the event.
