French opposition urges Macron to act after recognition of Palestine

Mathilde Panot, deputy chair of the France Unbowed (LFI) party, wrote on US social media company X: “Recognizing the State of Palestine is good, stopping genocide and colonialism is better.”

She urged Paris to impose an immediate arms embargo on Israel, adopt diplomatic, economic and cultural sanctions, and suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement.

Manuel Bompard, national coordinator of LFI, said: “Concrete steps are now necessary to end genocide and colonialism.”

Sabrina Sebaihi, a lawmaker from the Greens (EELV), said France must now “act forcefully to end genocide in Gaza, colonialism in the West Bank, and to secure the release of prisoners.”

French Communist Party (PCF) Secretary-General Fabien Roussel welcomed the recognition as “a victory, albeit delayed,” but stressed that France must immediately work for a ceasefire in Gaza and the end of “massacres, oppression and occupation.”

Roussel also said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “must be stopped,” urging continued efforts toward a two-state solution.

President Macron announced the recognition on Monday during a high-level international conference on the Palestinian issue, co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia at the UN.

"I declare that today, France recognizes the state of Palestine," he said.

He said France has decided to "open an embassy to the state of Palestine as soon as all of the hostages detained in Gaza have been freed and a ceasefire has been established."