'Maintaining balance': Why France supported UN vote to end Israeli occupation
France was among a handful of Israeli allies that voted in favour of a UN resolution demanding an end to Israel's occupation of Gaza and the occupied West Bank within a year on Wednesday.
The non-binding resolution, introduced by Palestine, was based on the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) back in July, which said Israel’s presence in the occupied territories was unlawful and had to end.
A majority of the 193 members of the UN General Assembly voted in favour, while 14 countries, including Israel and the United States voted against it. Forty-three others including the United Kingdom abstained.
Although largely considered as an Israeli ally, France joined Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Belgium, which have all recently expressed a more critical stance on Israel in the context of its war on Gaza, to support the resolution.
Nicolas de Riviere, France’s permanent UN representative, told the General Assembly that his country was “committed to respecting international law” and reaffirmed “its full support for the International Court of Justice”.
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"As the court stated in its advisory opinion of July 2024, the colonisation of the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, constitutes a violation of international law," he said.
"States are therefore obliged not to recognise the situation arising from the illicit presence of the state of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories. France will not recognise the illegal annexation of these territories."
He reaffirmed France’s “unwavering commitment to the security of Israel” but also stressed that “continued colonisation is a major obstacle to the two-state solution”, which he said was the only solution that could guarantee a lasting peace and Israeli security in the long term.
“This implies the creation of a Palestinian state, as well as a relaunch of peace negotiations,” he added.
Fits the pattern
French professor of international relations at Saint Louis University's Madrid Campus Barah Mikhail said France’s vote was “not surprising at all”.
“France has always condemned the Israeli colonisation of the Palestinian territories. In addition to compliance with the principles of international law, this allows the country to maintain balance in its relations with the Israelis and the Palestinians,” Mikhail told Middle East Eye.
The country’s voting pattern at the UN in recent months also suggests “even if in an overblown manner, potential levers of action on its part in the conflict”, he added.
In January, de Riviere warned during a press conference that as a “fervent supporter of the ICJ,” France would back the court’s decision, whatever it found.
A month later, when an Algerian motion demanding “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire" in Gaza was blocked by the United States at the UN, France’s permanent representative to the UN expressed regret that the resolution “could not be adopted, given the catastrophic situation on the ground”.
In April, France voted in favour of a draft resolution, also presented by Algeria, recommending the admission of the state of Palestine to the UN.
And a month later, it supported "the admission of Palestine as a full member state", voting in favour of a draft resolution "conferring new rights to the observer State of Palestine within the United Nations".
‘Balancing act’
Analysts say France has displayed a consistent position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In November 1967, after Israel's capture of Palestinian territories, President Charles de Gaulle predicted that Israel was setting up “an occupation that will inevitably involve oppression… and a resistance to this occupation [that] Israel in turn [would] class as terrorism”.
In 1982, François Mitterrand recognised the Palestinians’ right to a state before the Knesset, and Jacques Chirac, whom Yasser Arafat nicknamed "Doctor Chirac", was personally involved in the peace negotiations.
'[France's vote at the UN] suggests, even if in an overblown manner, potential levers of action on its part in the conflict'
- Barah Mikhail, professor of international relations
At the risk of being accused of being "pro-Arab" by Israel, Paris has always advocated for a political settlement of the conflict on the basis of the two-state solution, capable of meeting the security needs of Israel and the aspirations of Palestinians at the same time.
The North Africa and Middle East department at the ministry of foreign affairs, often nicknamed the “Arab street” within the Quai d’Orsay, has been a key element in maintaining this position, even under the mandate of presidents more aligned with Israel such as Nicolas Sarkozy.
Under Macron, the relations between the presidency and the diplomatic corps, especially after Israel started its assault on Gaza, have been uneasy, according to media reports.
"The tensions are discreet, never expressed openly, but very real. Emmanuel Macron’s positioning in the war between Israel and Hamas arouses irritation, even strong reservations, within the French diplomatic apparatus," Le Monde newspaper wrote last November.
That month, in a leaked internal document, French diplomats criticised Paris’s position on the war in Gaza and what they perceived as a break from the country’s longstanding policy of cultivating relations in the Arab world.
In the note addressed to the foreign ministry and the presidency, a dozen French ambassadors serving in the Middle East and North Africa expressed their "regret [at the] the pro-Israeli turn taken by Emmanuel Macron in the war".
According to a diplomat quoted by the French daily Le Figaro, which first reported the document, the diplomats explained that this position in favour of Israel was “misunderstood in the Middle East” and was “at odds with [France’s] traditionally balanced position between Israelis and Palestinians”.
"[The memo] establishes a loss of credibility and influence of France and notes the poor image of our country in the Arab world. Then, in a rather diplomatic form, it suggests that all this is the result of the positions taken by the president of the republic," the source said, calling the document a "note of dissent".
In their joint note, the "dissident" diplomats pointed out Macron's proposal, during his visit to Israel two weeks after the Hamas-led attacks on the country, of "extending the international anti-Isis coalition to [fighting] Hamas".
The French president’s initiative, quickly rejected by the international community, surprised French diplomats, who complained of being kept out of the loop.
Macron shifts
In France, foreign policy is seen as the exclusive domain of the president.
According to Le Figaro, the foreign ministry minimised the scope of the leaked note, recalling that "it is the political authorities elected by the French people ... who decide on France's foreign policy".
'A General Assembly resolution is not binding. This allows [France] to affirm a principle without any real consequences'
- Adlene Mohammedi, political analyst
Yet, since then, Macron has gradually embraced a more critical stance towards Israel’s actions in Gaza and joined calls for a ceasefire.
French political analyst Adlene Mohammedi said France’s vote against colonisation at the UN this week shows that “the French position remains a balancing act”.
“It is about supporting Israel. At the same time, support for international law and consistency with France's historical position require condemning colonisation,” he told MEE.
“We have gone too far in our ‘unconditional support’, while a massacre against the Palestinians has been going on since October, not to return to a position consistent with the principles historically defended by France. Indeed, being historically attached to the 1967 borders, France has a duty to condemn colonisation,” he added.
However, Mohammedi noted, “a General Assembly resolution is not binding. This allows us to affirm a principle without any real consequences”.
Beyond diplomatic initiatives and official statements, France has been accused of failing to use other means to pressure Israel. Its arms sales to Israel have been ongoing despite the war and marked by “opacity”, according to investigative media outlets.
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