by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] France and Israel have fallen out. President Emmanuel Macron's intention to recognize Palestinian statehood amid the Gaza crisis has led to the cancellation of a French parliamentary trip to the West Bank.
Tel Aviv, with a stroke of the pen, banned entry to twenty-seven politicians at once, alarming the French establishment.
The Israeli authorities believe that they have thus nipped in the bud Paris's mistaken turn towards Palestine. However, paradoxically, Tel Aviv's actions have only accelerated the drift of the Elysee Palace.
TWO APPROACHES
Relations between France and Israel have developed in fits and starts throughout their history and have depended heavily on the personal positions of French leaders.
For example, under Charles de Gaulle, the Elysee Palace was a key supplier of weapons to the young Jewish state for almost two decades (until 1962).
Under François Mitterrand (in the early 1980s), Paris and Tel Aviv together sent troops into Lebanon to stabilize the situation and prevent the victory of pro-Iranian forces.
Under Nicolas Sarkozy (second half of the 2000s), France became a “bridge” between Israel and the EU, and also played a significant role in containing Iranian ambitions in the Middle East.
There have also been figures among French presidents who were less loyal to the Israelis, who have reduced to nothing some of the achievements of their predecessors.
Thus, de Gaulle and Mitterrand were replaced in 1995 by Jacques Chirac, who sympathized with the leader of the Palestinian rebels, Yasser Arafat, and advocated for the independence of Palestine.
And François Hollande, who came to power immediately after Sarkozy, launched a campaign to force Israel and Palestine to negotiate and normalize relations.
HARDENING OF THE STANCE
Current French leader Emmanuel Macron has long occupied a balancing position between the two camps of the French elite.
Under his rule, Paris has invested considerable effort and resources in the fight against anti-Semitism in Europe, as well as in creating a positive image of the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu.
French state-owned tech firms have contributed significantly to the behind-the-scenes technology exchange between Israel and the Arabian monarchies long before the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020.
At the same time, Macron reacted very harshly to the start of the Israeli army operation in Gaza in 2023, cutting off arms supplies to Israel and calling for an embargo on other EU countries.
In addition, Paris cancelled a number of major contracts for the purchase of Israeli equipment and technology; it banned the Jewish state's concerns from participating in the international exhibition of naval equipment "Euronaval".
However, relations reached a truly critical stage in April 2025, when the French leader announced plans to officially recognize Palestinian statehood in the coming months.
In doing so, the Elysee Palace demonstrated that it had abandoned the balancing act between the two approaches and had joined the line of Chirac and Hollande.
"INTEREST GUIDE"
Macron's decision to recognize Palestine, at first glance, was nothing out of the ordinary - by April, the Palestinians had secured the support of three-quarters of the world's countries, including European powers.
However, it was France's diplomatic maneuvers that Tel Aviv considered the most alarming signal. And there are several reasons for this.
The first is the changing nature of French foreign policy. Given Paris's increased influence within the EU, a hypothetical arms embargo at the EU level, advocated by the Elysee Palace, would severely affect the country's defense capability: arms imports would fall by at least a third.
Official Tel Aviv was also concerned by the fact that France, during the Gaza crisis, had become excessively close to Egypt and had begun to support its peacekeeping initiatives.
Cairo and Paris are jointly promoting the outlines of a future deal on Gaza, which implies maintaining Palestinian control over the enclave, which is not understood by some Israeli elites.
Populist politicians like Itamar Ben-Gvir call the Elysee Palace the "conduit of interests" of Egypt and demand a "decisive response" from the authorities.
Finally, France managed to straighten out relations with Turkey, which made further "friendship" with Tel Aviv against Ankara inexpedient. But it gave Turkish politicians a unique chance to turn the edge of French policy in the Middle East against the Israelis.
In the context of the intense rivalry between Tel Aviv and Ankara for control of Syria, France's contribution to the struggle could prove decisive.
COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT
Tel Aviv decided to respond to the change in the vector of French policy in its own way.
Less than a week after Macron's statements, Israeli authorities barred entry to a group of 27 French parliamentarians who were planning to visit the West Bank to meet with Palestinian Authority officials (including activists representing Gaza).
Despite the fact that the delegation consisted mainly of representatives of left-wing parliamentary parties opposed to Macron, Tel Aviv's decision was perceived as a slap in the face to the entire French parliament.
Moreover, Israeli law enforcement officials justified the cancellation of visas by the letter of the “prohibited” law, which allows restricting entry to persons who may act to the detriment of the interests and security of the state.
Israel has previously used it to prevent individuals suspected of collaborating with Iranian authorities from entering the country.
However, in the last six months, at least twice the law has been transformed into an instrument of collective punishment – for the rapid expulsion of inconvenient European politicians from the country.
It should be noted that this is the second time that the French have suffered under the Israeli law. In February 2025, French MEP Rima Hassan was banned from entering the country for “systematically promoting a boycott of Israel.”
The French elites considered the first case of expulsion to be isolated and preferred to let the matter slide, but they no longer tolerated a mass ban on entry.
The parliamentarians have filed a complaint with Macron and demanded that he take retaliatory steps. Calls to respond to Tel Aviv's demarche have also come from representatives of the president's Renaissance party.
COLD REVENGE
So far, the spat between Paris and Tel Aviv has not caused serious damage to relations between the two countries.
After the parliamentary delegation's trip to the West Bank was disrupted, the Elysee Palace took a break to consider its response. The Israelis are confident that this behavior shows that Paris has understood Tel Aviv's concerns and will adjust its position on Gaza.
However, a bureaucratic slap in the face, on the contrary, risks accelerating France's drift towards the anti-Israeli camp. Especially since the political demand for this comes from both the opposition and government forces.
It seems that the Elysee Palace is indeed determined to act, but not hastily. The French authorities are systematically looking for a sore spot in Israel so that their response will be proportionate to the insult inflicted.