(Avertissement: nous transmettons fidèlement le texte paru ce jour dans le Haaretz en Anglais. Plutôt que d’utiliser « Google Translate » pour avoir le texte en Français, nous préférons transmettre l’original.)
French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement of France’s imminent recognition of a Palestinian state has stirred widespread debate, accompanied by strong criticism in Israel. I want to explain why this step by my country is far from a « victory for terror, » and, on the contrary, represents an investment in the long-term security of Israel and the entire region.
Since October 7, 2023, following the antisemitic massacre carried out by Hamas and the horrific fate of the hostages, which continues to prolong the nightmare, a war has been raging in Gaza that has reached a dead end.
This isn’t one of the short battles that Israel – on more than one occasion – fought that managed to shift its security balance. There’s no doubt that this is now a war harming Israel far more than it benefits its security, and threatens to devolve into a state of perpetual conflict.
Hamas, which denies Israel’s right to exist and is responsible for the most severe antisemitic attack since the Holocaust, has failed in its initial gamble in Gaza. It didn’t succeed in sparking the all-out confrontation with Israel it had envisioned, and the allies it had hoped would rally to its side have suffered heavy blows. Hamas has brought nothing but destruction and pain to both Gazans and Israelis. Today, there’s no one left to come to its aid, and the whole world is turning its back on it.
France achieved an unprecedented diplomatic success in New York: the complete isolation of Hamas on the international stage. For the first time since October 7, a document initiated by a coalition of Muslim and Arab states was presented to the UN. These countries – including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and even Qatar – explicitly condemned the terrorist group, and called for its disarmament and exclusion from any future arrangements for Gaza.
Even more significantly, in the final text adopted at the conference’s conclusion, those countries declared their intention to normalize relations with Israel and to participate alongside Israel and a future Palestinian state in a shared regional organization.
However, the shift in these countries’ positions, which just a year ago remained on the sidelines and are now ready, along with many European countries, to commit to stabilizing and rebuilding Gaza without Hamas, also stems from their critical need to put an end to the humanitarian disaster unfolding in the Strip. They won’t do so under fire, and certainly not under occupation.
I’m aware that many in Israel refuse to believe the numbers, accusing it of being a manipulation, but the figure of 5,000 Palestinian children under the age of five hospitalized in Gaza in July due to severe malnutrition is real. The destruction of entire cities, as seen in satellite images, is real. The mass panic rushing to aid centers isn’t fiction.
The humanitarian disaster in Gaza today fuels extremists, creates fertile ground for tomorrow’s terrorism and strengthens the campaign of vilification against Israel and the new wave of antisemitism, both in my country and around the world – a reality that horrifies me. It blocks any possibility of reconciliation.
France recently took concrete action by airlifting over 40 tons of humanitarian aid from Jordan. We were forced to do the same thing a year and a half ago, but then – as now – it’s impossible to feed two million people by air alone, let alone provide them with medical care and shelter.
Only reopening all land border crossings and establishing secure conditions within Gaza, enabling the orderly distribution of aid, can meet the vast needs and prevent the bloodshed and tragedies we witness daily in food distribution lines.
An immediate cease-fire is required for this purpose. It’s also an essential condition for the release of all the hostages. We were horrified when we saw the images of Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David, young people taken hostage from the Nova music festival on October 7, whose appearance resembles scenes from the liberation of the death camps. They’re still alive and can be saved. The way to do so is through negotiation.
I don’t believe it’s possible to replicate the heroic 1976 Entebbe operation inside Gaza’s tunnels and rescue them by force. We must remember Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat and Almog Sarusi, who were murdered by Hamas as Israeli forces approached to free them. A cease-fire is necessary to bring back the living and the dead.
A long-term cease-fire can’t be discussed without first forging a shared vision for post-war Gaza, a vision that, according to France and the Muslim Arab countries that signed the New York declaration, excludes Hamas. This applies to all the territories where Palestinians live and where they’ll build their state. Reforms will be necessary: eradicating the education of hatred from within, and placing leadership in the hands of those who reject terror and recognize peace with Israel.
Does it sound utopian? I don’t think so. The real illusion is the false belief that the situation can be resolved by force alone without offering a credible political solution. It’s not occupying forces that will uproot terror from the heart of the people, but trustworthy leaders who emerge from within the people themselves, determined to restrain extremists, restore the services their citizens deserve and establish security relations with their neighbors, which they’ll be entrusted to uphold.
Recognition of a Palestinian state is therefore not a « reward for terror » but a message to the Palestinians that the time has come to take responsibility for their future, rooted in a realistic view and nonviolent means, and that we’ll support them in doing so. This is a diplomatic lever we’ve used to rally Western, Muslim and Arab countries to the joint effort for the post-war period, aiming for a swift and sustainable solution – not decades more of stagnation – and to push extremists to the margins once and for all.
By providing responsible Palestinians with a credible political horizon, we strip Hamas of its main claim that no such thing exists. At the same time, we strengthen Israel’s legitimacy as a democratic state entitled to peace with its neighbors and actively seeking it.
Hamas’ recent claims of a so-called diplomatic victory following the recognition of a Palestinian state should not fool anyone. Hamas has always been, and remains, the sworn enemy of the two-state solution, as it denies Israel’s right to exist. This is indeed a defeat for the terrorist group. We must not fall into the trap of its false rhetoric or be drawn into an endless war, which is its only chance to survive.
Our initiative doesn’t reward violence, but invests in peace and security at a time when the region is showing readiness for this, creating a unique window of opportunity. France has chosen to use this lever to build an alternative to endless war. Thanks to our diplomatic tools and influence, as well as our connections in the region and standing in Europe, this is a role we are well-positioned to fulfill.
From here on, it’s up to the people and countries involved to seize the opportunity. Israelis have a choice: If they take seriously the outstretched hand of those offering peace, they can win the war and make October 7 a day that marks the defeat of barbarism. Afterward, the wounds must be healed and we must turn our gaze to tikkun olam: repairing and improving the world, the wonderful worldview Judaism has gifted to humanism.
Frédéric Journès is the French Ambassador to Israel.
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