FRENCH PRESIDENT MACRON IS NEITHER CONSEQUENTIAL NOR COHERENT

Emmanuel the egregious

The French president is using the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the Iran-Israel standoff not out of genuine concern, but as tools to pander to the Muslim world. 

 

By Martin Sherman 

 

JNS

Jun 20, 2025

 

U.S. President Donald Trump talks with French President Emmanuel Macron at the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, June 16, 2025. 

 

With the war raging between Iran and Israel, few news items beyond reports from the battlefront itself make it into international headlines. The recent G7 Summit in Canada was one event that did manage to breach that barrier, mostly relating to provocative statements and/or actions by President Donald Trump. Such, for example, was his decision to leave the conference after barely a day, and his vehement verbal assault on French President Emmanuel Macron.

Trump ridiculed Macron’s assessment of the reasons for his abrupt departure. According to Macron, this was to negotiate a ceasefire between Israel, hinting that this would entail U.S. pressure on Israel. Trump scornfully dismissed Macron’s statement: “Publicity‑seeking President Emmanuel Macron of France mistakenly said that I left the G7 Summit … to work on a ‘ceasefire’ between Israel and Iran … wrong!” And, Trump said: “Whether purposely or not, Emmanuel always gets it wrong … .”

The disdain evident in Trump’s reaction has been well-earned by Macron due to dubious shenanigans over recent years, raising grave doubts regarding his intentions, competence and motivation. Indeed, one historian, cited in The New York Times, dismissed him as “… neither consequential nor coherent.”

In previous articles, I pointed to his shady dealings with Hezbollah affiliates and his veering away from mainstream Western foreign policy in an apparent attempt to find favor with a growing Muslim segment in the French electorate. Indeed, Macron has also been a leading figure in promoting an arms embargo against an embattled Israel, locked in a mortal, multi-front battle against the forces of Islamic terror. In an uncalled-for admonition, Macron had the brazen gall to accuse Israel of “sowing barbarism” in its struggle to repel the naked barbarism of its enemies.

France has also been leading the push for a Palestinian state, and, until recently, was supposed to co-chair a U.N. conference this month aimed at advancing the goal of Palestinian statehood. Not only would this profoundly undermine Israeli security, but, in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre, it would have constituted a resounding reward for terror and barbarism. Indeed, the Trump administration strongly disapproved of the move, discouraging other governments from attending the conference and reportedly warning that any “anti-Israel actions” taken after the conference could be followed by diplomatic consequences from Washington.

Fortunately, the conference has been delayed due to Israel’s pre-emptive strikes in Iran.

But the catalogue of Paris’s ill-founded malevolence goes on to include the latest act of Gallic gall—the puerile decision to obstruct the view of some Israeli weapon systems at the country’s pavilion at the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport using movable black walls. This comes in the wake of two earlier (illegal) attempts last year to preclude Israeli participation in high-profile French arms exhibitions. This latest move was aimed particularly at offensive systems which have been used with great effect around the world.

Money, not morals

Informed sources suggested that the latest anti-Israeli obstructionist measures were not motivated by high-minded concern spurred by the alleged misuse of Israeli weapons but by purely commercial ones, designed to prevent Israel from displaying superior merchandise competing with French-produced systems. Indeed, the French military industry recently took a hit after French-manufactured Rafale jets were reportedly outperformed by Chinese J-10Cs in a recent Indian-Pakistani aerial engagement in Kashmir, which negatively impacted share prices of major French armaments corporations.

Paradoxically—and perhaps predictably—Israel Radio reported that the latest French measure succeeded only in piquing the interest of potential purchasers.

Of course, when it comes to humanitarian concerns, France has little room to claim the moral high ground given its brutal record in its former colonies from Indochina, through Oceania to Central and northwest Africa, where even today the post-independence governments are chafing at the bit to rid themselves of lingering French dominance and military presence.

Pathetic pandering

This leaves the troubling question as to what prompted this poorly timed display of animus by France. According to some sources, at least part of the answer may lie in a recent report, initiated by the French government, that warned that the country’s rapidly growing Muslim influence is becoming a national threat. These sources suggest that through Paris’ newly accentuated pro-Palestinian pivot, Macron is hoping not only to curry favor with, but also placate this increasingly influential Islamic constituency.

It is disheartening to witness French kowtowing to the same dark forces that barely a decade ago perpetrated acts of barbaric slaughter on the streets of Paris (with attacks on Charlie Hebdo magazine on Jan. 7, 2015 and the Bataclan concert hall on Nov. 13, 2015), preferring instead to sanction the very country, that more than any other, has acted to confront and contain the scourge menacing both nations.