"It was outrageous for Macron to do this, and it came at a horrible time. It basically rewards Hamas and is one of the reasons that they became unreasonable in any talks to end the war in Gaza," Huckabee, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, said in an interview with Family Research Council President Tony Perkins.
The interview aired on Washington Watch Monday.
In an X post last week, Macron (right) wrote of "France's historic commitment to a just and sustainable peace in the Middle East" – and said, "I have decided that France will recognize the State of Palestine."
Also last week, a majority of the Israeli Knesset – 71 out of 120 members – took a different track as the group passed a non-binding resolution in favor of Israeli sovereignty in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley.
Macron said that he will revisit this topic in an official statement at the United Nations General Assembly in September. In the post, he attached a letter he previously wrote to Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, expressing the same sentiment. In the letter, the costs to civilians on both sides began with terrorist attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
Related article: U.N.'s anti-Israel push for two-state solution is alive and well
The quick fix for a Palestinian state
Huckabee said Macron can expedite a Palestinian state with a very simple fix.
"If Macron wants to have a secondary motion here to get a state for Palestine, I suggest that he just give a part of the French Riviera because he never said where this Palestinian state should be or when it should be. So, let's make it the French Riviera."
Huckabee had another suggestion too.
"Also, if one nation can just declare another place on the earth to be a state, then I think it would be fitting for the U.K. to declare France a British colony," he said.
Macron's letter does not mention that two states existed side-by-side at that time nor is there concern expressed for Israel's security in a future two-state solution.
"Civilians paid an unbearably high price during the terrorist attacks committed by Hamas on 7 October and in the war that Israel is pursuing in Gaza. At the same time, the prospect of a negotiated solution to the conflict in the Middle East seems increasingly distant. I cannot resign myself to that," Macron writes.
The letter acknowledges a June 9 letter from Abbas in which, Macron says, Abbas reiterated previous calls for Hamas to be disarmed and removed from any role of governance in Gaza.
"I welcome these courageous commitments," Macron wrote.
Western European nations like France and the United Kingdom have seen growing Muslim populations for years.
Macron's unforced error
Still, Macron's take is confusing and complicates the delicate balance of not only the Gaza situation but slight political gains between the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority, Huckabee explained.
"I don't know if it's (Muslims in Western Europe) or if it's just the self-righteousness of people like Macron who somehow want to beat his chest and try to tell everyone that he's so compassionate and that he wants to resolve a problem that he does not understand," Huckabee said.
The ambassador calls Macron's self-insertion a "setback" and an "unforced error."
"His announcement compounded a problem. It made things much worse not just in Gaza, but quite frankly, we've been working on some very touchy issues between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and we were not there yet. We were moving in that direction, and what he did blew it all off the table. We're back to ground zero," Huckabee said.
The Knesset's resolution is also a response to Macron, according to Huckabee. Only 13 lawmakers voted against the resolution, Jewish News Syndicate reported. It showed the emotions stirring among the Israelis even if it lacked real bite.
The motion was passed as a Hatza'a l'Seder Yom, or "Suggestion for discussion on the agenda," a parliamentary tool equivalent to a resolution that does not obligate the government to act on its content, JNS reported.
Israel Ganz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council and chairman of the Yesha Council, said approval of the proposal again demonstrates broad support for Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.
"It is clear and undeniable evidence of the national will to realize our values and our right to our land," he said. "This vote is a significant milestone on the path toward advancing the strategic step that will fortify the security of the entire State of Israel," JNS reported.
Huckabee said the Palestinian Authority is pushing European nations to take these public stances and that the Knesset resolution should be a message that, when pushed, Israel's response will be that of "any decent country, to bow up and say, 'no, we're not.'"
If Abbas and the PA are in fact trying to spin the narrative, they're not alone.
When pictures are not worth 1,000 words
Images coming out of Gaza of starving children are dated or have been misused to convey a false reality, Huckabee said in a Fox News interview on Tuesday.
Trump referenced those images in public comments Monday urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "make sure they get the food" that the U.S. and other nations are supplying.
"Based on television, those children look very hungry. Some of those kids are … that's real starvation stuff. I see it, and you can't fake that," Trump said.
But apparently it can be faked, and much of the media is eager to do just that, Huckabee said.
"The disconnect is with the media, who wants there to be an anti-Israel message that they keep getting across. But it's a false message. They've showed pictures of children who supposedly were starving. Turns out one of the pictures was from 2017, and it was about a child with cerebral palsy. Another one showed a very emaciated child, but it was because he had a disease," Huckabee said.
Even those images can't hide the fact that food is available.
"He was standing next to a mother who, by any standards, let's just say she was very well-fed. So somebody was eating; it may not have been the child," Huckabee said.
