US Secretary Marco Rubio said the United States strongly rejects French President Emmanuel Macron’s intention to formally recognise the State of Palestine during the UN General Assembly in September.
“The United States strongly rejects Macron’s plan to recognise the Palestinian State at the UN General Assembly. This reckless decision only serves Hamas propaganda and harms peace. It is a slap in the face to the victims of 7 October,” he wrote on social network X.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he “strongly condemns President Macron’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state next to Tel Aviv following the October 7 massacre”.
In a statement released by his office, Netanyahu said “such a move rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, as happened with Gaza.”
“A Palestinian state under these circumstances would be a launching pad for the destruction of Israel, not for living peacefully alongside it. Let’s be honest: the Palestinians do not seek a state next to Israel; they seek a state instead of Israel,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Paris will recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September. This decision, according to Macron, will help the peaceful resolution of the Middle East conflict.
France will thus become the first major Western power to recognise not just the Palestinian right to statehood, but a de jure Palestinian state.
The independence of the State of Palestine is currently recognised by about 150 of the 193 UN member states. The US and Israel, in particular, refuse to recognise it now. According to UN resolutions, the territory of the state should consist of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, but Israel does not agree with such borders.
Hamas militants invaded Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages. in response, Israel launched a military operation in the Gaza Strip, stating as a goal the release of hostages and the elimination of Hamas. According to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 50,000 people have been victims of Israeli attacks in the Strip. There is no independent confirmation of these figures, nor do these statistics have a breakdown of armed and civilian casualties.
In June, the head of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas publicly condemned the attack by Hamas militants on Israel, which took place on 7 October 2023. He had previously called on Hamas to release the hostages, but refrained from directly condemning the 7 October attack.
The leadership of the Palestinian National Authority years ago renounced support for terrorism as a tool in the struggle to establish an Arab state in Palestine, but the administration does not often condemn the actions of terrorist groups.