Robert Ejnes has spent years carefully navigating the political winds of the Fifth Republic as executive director of CRIF, the umbrella group representing French Jewry, . But now, as France prepares to recognize a Palestinian state in September—no matter the circumstances—he finds himself issuing a quiet alarm that feels, for once, dangerously easy to ignore.

“We're not surprised,” he said, referring to President Emmanuel Macron’s recent pledge. “Because he said it three months ago... we had the reaction three months ago. We called it... the political error, political danger, diplomatic error and moral error as well.”

That initial warning came when Macron first floated the idea—then, at least, with caveats: Hamas would be excluded from negotiations, hostages released and a Palestinian state demilitarized. But that language soon gave way to finality. “The second declaration is: whatever happens, I will declare the recognition of the state of Palestine,” Ejnes said. “And this is what we're mad at. Because it's not normal, and we cannot understand the reason he would... recognize the state of Palestine without conditions.”

For Ejnes, the shift in tone isn’t just political—it’s personal, and potentially dangerous. “We see it as a recognition of the terrorist value of the 7th of October,” he said. “And we're not the only ones to say it, because Hamas leaders say exactly the same thing three days ago.”
He rejects the notion that the decision came from nuanced diplomacy or careful moral balancing. “As to the reason he did it... is something we cannot understand and we do not understand.”