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News Analysis
The French president, expressing a moral obligation to address suffering in Gaza, made clear he had lost patience with the United States and Israel. The question is what effect he will have.
July 25, 2025, 11:15 a.m. ET
In announcing French recognition of Palestinian statehood, President Emmanuel Macron of France expressed his growing outrage at Palestinian deaths and starvation in Gaza, but also incurred the hostility of the United States, Israel and much of the large French Jewish community.
That is a considerable price to pay for a decision he portrayed as essential to preserve some chance of a two-state peace, but Mr. Macron detests inertia and often acts in isolation. He has lost patience with President Trump’s America and has indicated that he believes he has a moral obligation to confront Israel’s devastation of Gaza.
Certainly, he has placed himself in a delicate position, taking a step that a succession of French presidents had shunned, at a moment when Hamas has not disarmed in Gaza and Palestinian statehood has never seemed more remote.
Mr. Macron’s decision reflects the swelling global horror at the starvation and killing of civilians in Gaza. Australia, Britain and Canada all called on Israel in recent days to allow more aid into the enclave, which may now happen. But French recognition of Palestinian statehood seems unlikely to affect the quest for a cease-fire, let alone inspire serious diplomacy focused on the future of Gaza, as long as the United States has other ideas.
“What he says doesn’t matter,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Macron’s announcement, speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday. “That statement doesn’t carry any weight.”
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