Macron’s Palestine stance can force the UK’s hand on recognition
French recognition of Palestine is set to take shape at an international conference in June, increasing pressure on the UK foreign office.
Taking place in New York in June 2025, France will be co-chairing the conference alongside Saudi Arabia, with Macron believing he can “finalise this movement of mutual recognition (of a Palestinian state) by several parties”.
According to The Guardian, Emily Thornberry, the chair of the foreign affairs committee and advocate for Palestinian statehood, stated: “We need to do it with friends. We need to do it with the French. There are a lot of other countries sitting back and waiting.”
This call to recognition has begun to gain traction with many recent issues around the war in Gaza and Israel’s actions taking place within the Labour Party.
In recent months, we have seen Foreign Secretary David Lammy claim Israel’s actions “are a breach of international law”, only to pivot on these beliefs after they did not suit Starmer and the government’s relationship with Israel.
Then Thornberry criticised the breaking of the truce by Netanyahu and accused him of “clinging onto power by his fingernails”.
To top this, in April we saw the denial of access and deportation of Labour MPs from Israel for what has been reported as planning to “document the activities of security forces and spread anti-Israel hatred”, according to a statement from the Israeli immigration ministry.
It is clear that the relationship between the Israeli government and the current Labour government is not as smooth sailing as it should be and that there is growing pressure in the party to recognise the Palestinian state.
With Macron claiming that there must be a “move towards recognition” in the coming months, the international stage for Palestinian recognition is beginning to heat up and the Labour government will feel the pressure to follow its ally across the channel.
Just last year in May, countries such as Spain, Norway and Ireland all chose to recognise Palestine in the UN assembly vote. Despite this, all the G20 countries, including France, chose not to acknowledge it.
France has now chosen to move forward with recognition in June in a collaborative effort with Saudi Arabia.
This move by Macron may be the catalyst for formal recognition by states such as the UK.
With a growing desire within the Labour Party to support the Palestinian region, along with recent friction involving the Israeli government and the party, combined with the backing of Macron’s France and Saudi Arabia, the UK may be poised to challenge the US-Israeli partnership.
The Guardian, Maghrebi.org, Sky News, France 24 News
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