EXCLUSIVE: A French official countered assertions by President Donald Trump that acknowledging a Palestinian state would equate to a win for Hamas, emphasizing that the proposal put forth at the United Nations this week aims to diminish the militant group and reinvigorate the two-state solution.
During an exclusive interview with Digital at the in New York, Pascal Confavereux, spokesperson for France’s Foreign Ministry, dismissed suggestions that President Emmanuel Macron was attempting to position himself as an “anti-Trump” leader on the global stage.
The spokesperson emphasized that relations between President Trump and Macron remained strong, despite their visible differences at the U.N. “The French president and President Trump have a relationship that dates back to the first Trump administration. They have very intense discussions, and they are working on many, many issues,” he stated, noting that the two leaders conversed again on Tuesday about various subjects. “This is not at all against the Trump administration. On the contrary, what is done here will help.”
He additionally connected the U.N. initiative to the wider framework of regional normalization initially championed during the Trump administration. “What were the Abraham Accords of the first Trump administration? They gave reassurance to neighboring Arab countries, and in exchange, they established stronger ties with Israel. Here, the logic is totally coherent with what we are doing, so it will help. Should the Trump administration want to go in this direction, it will definitely open the way to a kind of Abraham Two.”
Confavereux elaborated on how the package, jointly led by France and Saudi Arabia, integrated the recognition of Palestinian statehood with a set of commitments: condemning the October 7 massacre, excluding Hamas from any future Palestinian government, implementing governance reforms by the Palestinian Authority, and outlining plans for reconstruction and regional integration. “All these pieces of the puzzle were put together by this initiative,” he stated, adding that without it, “the two-state solution would have been in a very bad place.”
Trump, in his own U.N. address on Tuesday, vehemently condemned the French-Saudi plan. “Recognizing a Palestinian state today would reward Hamas for its horrible atrocities, including Oct. 7,” Trump informed world leaders, cautioning that such recognition would prolong the conflict and embolden terrorists.
However, the French spokesperson presented a contrasting perspective. “What was actually adopted at the United Nations General Assembly earlier this week was to save the two-state solution, which frankly was in mortal danger one year ago,” he stated. “This is exactly a defeat of Hamas. Hamas doesn’t want two states, Hamas wants ‘from the river to the sea.’ It’s exactly against that this initiative was prepared.”
When pressed to answer critics who argue that Macron’s international activism is also an attempt to preserve his legacy while he faces domestic struggles and , the spokesperson declined to comment.
French officials nonetheless expressed pride in having garnered widespread support. The July “Declaration of New York” — spearheaded by France and Saudi Arabia — was formally endorsed at the General Assembly this month with backing from 142 states. “It was a long effort, but it shows there is an international majority determined to keep the two-state solution alive,” the spokesperson noted.
On Monday, Trump utilized Truth Social to state that Ukraine, bolstered by European support, “is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.”
Confavereux greeted the remarks positively, stating, “We welcome very positively these statements by President Trump. What we can see is that President Putin is not at all wanting peace — he’s sending bombs and drones in Ukraine, he’s violating NATO territory in Poland, Estonia, Romania. On the ground he is in total failure, gaining less than 1% of Ukrainian territory in 1,000 days, and that will not change our determination.”