Netanyahu to Macron: Palestinian state would be ‘reward for terror’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke Tuesday with French President Emmanuel Macron, warning that the establishment of a Palestinian state would be “a major reward for terrorism” and a strategic threat to the Jewish state.

Netanyahu told Macron that a Palestinian state established minutes from Israeli population centers would become “an Iranian terror stronghold,” and “an overwhelming majority of the Israeli public is firmly opposed to such a move,” according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

He also noted that “no Palestinian entity—including the Palestinian Authority—has condemned the Oct. 7, [2023], massacre,” adding that the P.A. “educates its children to seek Israel’s destruction and financially rewards murderers of Jews.”

On Monday, Macron said on X that it is time to reform the P.A., five days after he suggested he would soon recognize it as an independent state.

“It is essential to set a framework for the day after: Disarm and sideline Hamas, define credible governance and reform the Palestinian Authority,” Macron wrote after a phone call with Mahmud Abbas, who heads the PLO, the Palestinian Authority and the Fatah terrorist organization.

“This should allow progress toward a two-state political solution, with a view to the peace conference in June, in the service of peace and security for all,” read the text by Macron, which he posted in French, Arabic and Hebrew.

“France is fully mobilized to secure the release of all hostages, the return of a lasting ceasefire and immediate access for humanitarian aid to Gaza,” he continued.

The statement Monday echoes a call last year by Macron to “implement necessary reforms” within the Palestinian Authority, offering the “prospect of recognition of the state of Palestine” as he said during a phone call with Abbas in May 2024.

Abbas, 89, has held power since 2005, shortly after the death of Yasser Arafat in November 2004. The following year he was elected to a four-year term as head of the P.A., with no presidential vote since. In the 2006 legislative elections, Hamas obtained the largest share of the votes. In 2007, it ousted the P.A., where Fatah is the dominant force, from power in Gaza, staging a bloody coup.

Fatah has urged its rival Hamas to cede power in Gaza in the aftermath of Israel’s current war against Hamas. The war broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, as about 6,000 Hamas-led terrorists murdered some 1,200 people in Israel and abducted another 251. Israel says it has killed 17,000 Hamas terrorists in its ongoing military campaign to dismantle it and retrieve the hostages.

Abbas “briefed President Macron on the comprehensive Palestinian reform agenda,” the Palestinian Authority-run news agency Wafa reported about Monday’s telephone conversation.

Macron’s remarks last week that France may recognize the Palestinian Authority as an independent state prompted criticism by Israel’s government. In July, the Knesset passed a resolution, in a 68-9 vote, rejecting Palestinian statehood as “an existential threat” to Israel.

“President Macron is gravely mistaken in continuing to promote the idea of a Palestinian state in the heart of our country, whose sole aspiration is the destruction of the State of Israel,” Netanyahu wrote on X on Sunday.

Successive U.S. administrations, under Democratic and Republican presidents, have opposed efforts to recognize a Palestinian state outside of negotiations with Israel.

In supporting the idea of Palestinian statehood, Macron said, “We must move toward recognition, and we will do so in the coming months. I’m not doing it for unity, or to please this or that person. I’m doing it because at some point it will be fair.”

© JNS