In the wake of the most barbaric massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, French President Emmanuel Macron has decided to reward its progenitors, announcing that France will recognize Palestine as a state. United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he will do the same if Israel hasn’t agreed to a ceasefire by September.

″Given its historic commitment to a just and sustainable peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the state of Palestine,’’ Macron posted. ″Peace is possible.’’

Peace is possible, but not if it comes as a reward for terrorism.

Before the usual cries of “Islamophobia” drown out rational thought, we should acknowledge that Palestinian self-determination is just as important as the self-determination of all peoples. Personally, I want there to be a Palestinian state, with the Palestinian people enjoying freedom, prosperity, and peace. But suppose this Palestinian state is to exist in the West Bank. How does Macron expect to achieve peace when an overwhelming majority of its Palestinian residents support Hamas and their Oct. 7, 2023, pogrom? On that day, Hamas tortured, kidnapped, mutilated, raped, burned, and murdered over 1,000 innocent civilians.

What we are witnessing from Macron is nothing new. Instead, it’s the same old reliable naivety in which the West rewards........

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