France recognizing a Palestinian state is a bold move by Macron, with a hint of desperation

With a single post, French President Emmanuel Macron changed everything, and nothing at all.

His late-evening announcement on X that France will recognize a Palestinian state in September, the first Western member of the United Nations Security Council and first G7 nation to do so, took many by surprise.

Although France’s recognition has been expected for several months now – indeed the brief Israel-Iran war forced a postponement of the summit on Israel-Palestine with Saudi Arabia and European allies that Paris had been shepherding – it was not expected to land like this.

Two takeaways

The surprise announcement tells us two things.

Firstly, that Macron feels this is the time to act. Leaders from France, the UK and Germany are due to speak Friday to seek urgent action over the new lows of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

More than 1,000 Gazans have been killed desperately seeking food since May, dozens more from starvation itself.