{"id":88955,"date":"2025-07-25T17:13:38","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T22:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=88955"},"modified":"2025-07-25T17:13:38","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T22:13:38","slug":"7-major-us-jewish-groups-decline-meeting-with-french-official-after-premature-palestinian-state-recognition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/7-major-us-jewish-groups-decline-meeting-with-french-official-after-premature-palestinian-state-recognition\/","title":{"rendered":"7 major US Jewish groups decline meeting with French official after \u2018premature Palestinian state recognition\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By PHILISSA CRAMER<\/p>\n<p>(JTA) \u2014 Seven major U.S. Jewish organizations say they have rejected a meeting with a French minister out of protest over French President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s announcement Thursday that he would recognize a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_88957\" style=\"width: 224px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Jean-Noel_Barrot_2023_cropped.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-88957\" class=\"wp-image-88957 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Jean-Noel_Barrot_2023_cropped-214x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"214\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Jean-Noel_Barrot_2023_cropped-214x300.jpg 214w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Jean-Noel_Barrot_2023_cropped-732x1024.jpg 732w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Jean-Noel_Barrot_2023_cropped-768x1075.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Jean-Noel_Barrot_2023_cropped-1098x1536.jpg 1098w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Jean-Noel_Barrot_2023_cropped.jpg 1160w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 214px) 100vw, 214px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 214px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 214\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-88957\" class=\"wp-image-88957 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Jean-Noel_Barrot_2023_cropped-214x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"214\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Jean-Noel_Barrot_2023_cropped-214x300.jpg 214w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Jean-Noel_Barrot_2023_cropped-732x1024.jpg 732w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Jean-Noel_Barrot_2023_cropped-768x1075.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Jean-Noel_Barrot_2023_cropped-1098x1536.jpg 1098w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Jean-Noel_Barrot_2023_cropped.jpg 1160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 214px) 100vw, 214px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-88957\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jean-No\u00ebl Barrot, French Minister for Digital Transition and Telecommunications. (By \u00a9 European Union via Wikipedia)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The move makes France the largest Western country to offer recognition, which 140 other countries have already extended but Israel and the United States oppose. Critics of unilateral recognition say the creation of a Palestinian state should come only through negotiations involving Israel.<\/p>\n<p>France\u2019s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot approached one of the groups, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, to meet in New York to discuss the recognition move. It declined.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are disappointed that our organizations were invited to discuss a policy that appears to already have been finalized rather than being consulted beforehand as partners committed to sustainable peace,\u201d the groups said in a joint statement.<\/p>\n<p>The other groups joining the Conference of Presidents in issuing the statement are six of its member organizations: the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, B\u2019nai B\u2019rith International, UJA-Federation of New York and the World Jewish Congress.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are deeply concerned that France\u2019s approach undermines prospects for a mutually negotiated future for Israelis and Palestinians,\u201d the groups said, adding, \u201cBy taking such a unilateral step, France not only emboldens extremists, but risks the security of the Jewish people around the globe, along with alienating moderate voices and undermining the credibility of French diplomacy in the region.<\/p>\n<p>Barrot, who delivered a letter outlining Macron\u2019s announcement to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday, has rebuffed such criticism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHamas has always rejected the two-state solution,\u201d he tweeted on Thursday. \u201cBy recognizing Palestine, France proves this terrorist movement wrong. It supports the side of peace against that of war.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Israel is furious about France\u2019s recognition, which comes just months after Macron said he would not make such a move without Hamas surrendering and releasing the Israeli hostages it holds. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar tweeted on Friday that he had discussed the move with his Canadian counterpart and warned her that Israel is considering an unspecified response.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnilateral steps by France and other countries will only push Israel to take steps of its own,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThe French initiative harms the chances of achieving a hostage deal and ceasefire. It won\u2019t promote stability in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>William Daroff, the Conference of Presidents\u2019 CEO, said the decision to rebuff Barrot\u2019s invitation did not represent a permanent policy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe routinely meet with foreign leaders, including when we disagree with their policies. However, in this case, the group of invited organizations unanimously agreed not to attend. Speaking with one voice underscores the seriousness of our objection,\u201d he said in a statement.&nbsp;\u201cShould we receive future invitations, we will evaluate them on a case-by-case basis.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"7%20major%20US%20Jewish%20groups%20decline%20meeting%20with%20French%20official%20after%20%E2%80%98premature%20Palestinian%20state%20recognition%E2%80%99\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,27,25],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88955"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88955"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88958,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88955\/revisions\/88958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}