In a statement released on Friday, Crif recalls that three months ago, the French President announced that he was considering recognising a Palestinian state, subject in particular to the release of the hostages still being held in Gaza and the surrender of Hamas.

The announcement by French President Emmanuel Macron that France would recognise a Palestinian state in September without preconditions ‘’is a moral mistake, a diplomatic error and a political danger,’’ said Crif, the representative body of French Jewish institutions.

On Thursday, Macron wrote on social media : “Faithful to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognise the State of Palestine. I will make the solemn announcement at the United Nations General Assembly in September.’’

In a statement released on Friday, Crif recalls that three months ago, the French President announced that he was considering recognising a Palestinian state, subject in particular to the release of the hostages still being held in Gaza and the surrender of Hamas.

‘’Today, none of these conditions have been met,’’ Crif stresses.

‘’The announcement of recognition of the Palestinian State in September is therefore in total opposition to the President of the Republic’s own previous declarations,’’ it adds.

Crif also points out that 78% of French people are opposed to this unconditional recognition acccording to a poll by Ifop conducted in June.

‘’Whatever the intentions of the President of the Republic, this recognition will be brandished by Hamas as a symbolic victory and a reward for the terrorism of 7 October, which claimed more than 1,200 victims, including 50 French citizens,’’ CRIF says.

‘’By granting the Palestinians at the beginning of the process what they must obtain at the end, this premature recognition will encourage the Palestinian side to make no further compromises, thereby encouraging the failure of future negotiations.’’

CRIF says that in France, the premature recognition of the Palestinian state will galvanise the extreme-left anti-Israel La France insoumise (France Unbowed, LFI) ‘’which has made Gaza an election slogan, and all the anti-Semitic agitators who twist the Palestinian cause to justify attacking French Jews.’’

‘’Demanding that the minimum conditions for its recognition be met does not mean rejecting a Palestinian state, it means promoting a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians when the time comes,’’ concludes Crif.

MP Caroline Yadan: ’The day of the pogrom on 7 October, during which terror expressed itself without limit, cannot be erected as the founding myth of any nation’

Caroline Yadan, a member of the French parliament who represents French citizens abroad, including in Israel, said President Macron’s ‘’deeply upsets me.’’

‘’In my view, it is a political, moral and historical mistake. Last June, the President himself laid down clear and essential conditions for any recognition of a Palestinian state: the release of all hostages, the complete demilitarisation of Hamas, the exclusion of Hamas from any form of governance,  an in-depth reform of the Palestinian Authority, mutual recognition between Israel and Palestine and respect for Israel’s fundamental right to live in peace and security,’’ she wrote on X.

She added: ‘’Of course, what is happening in Gaza is a tragedy. It deeply upsets us. All human lives are equal, and no one can be satisfied with the chaos and suffering that is taking place there. Our common objective must remain the search for a lasting political horizon, based on a two-state solution, living side by side in security and dignity. But none of these conditions has yet been met.’’

‘’To ignore them is to give in to emotion, impatience and even a form of resignation. Above all, it sends a dramatic signal: that of legitimizing an Islamist terrorist organisation, Hamas, which did not fail to congratulate the President of the Republic,’’ Yadan, who is a member of Macron’s political group, said.

‘’ It means ignoring the rockets that continue to be fired daily into Israel, in deafening silence. To recognise a Palestinian state less than two years after the greatest anti-Semitic massacre since the Shoah, while the desire to repeat this abomination remains intact, is to accept the invasion of a sovereign state as a legitimate means to an end.’’

‘’The day of the pogrom on 7 October, during which terror expressed itself without limit, cannot be erected as the founding myth of any nation. Peace cannot be decreed. It cannot be built on the ruins of pain, or on the erasure of principles. It is not the result of a unilateral gesture, but of a difficult path that requires lucidity, courage and justice – for both peoples,’’ Yadan concluded.