File Photo: French President Emmanuel Macron. AFP
"It will be, for us, a requirement very clearly before opening, for instance, an embassy in Palestine," Macron told CBS News in an interview taped Thursday.
The interview was aired as Britain, Australia and Canada on Sunday recognized a Palestinian state in a coordinated, seismic shift from decades of Western foreign policy.
The move triggered swift anger from Israel, which finds itself under huge international pressure, most recently with the UN declaring Israel’s war on Gaza a genocide and warning its blockade has sparked famine in the territory.
Portugal was also set to recognize Palestinian statehood later Sunday, while France says it will do so along with other countries Monday at the United Nations.
Macron also spoke out strongly against any plans to displace Palestinians from Gaza -- which they want to be part of a future sovereign state -- during the rebuilding of territory already decimated by Israeli bombing.
"But if the precondition of such a plan is to push them out, this is just a craziness," Macron said on "Face the Nation."
"We should not be -- for the credibility of the United States, for the credibility of France -- we cannot be implicitly or explicitly complacent with such a project."
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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