The French foreign ministry shot back at Secretary of State Marco Rubio after he accused France of stalling Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks by recognizing Palestinian statehood in late July.
The French foreign ministry countered Rubio’s argument in a Saturday post on X, writing, “No, @SecRubio, the recognition of the State of Palestine did not cause the breakdown of hostage negotiations.”
The post was followed by several others, including one that featured a screenshot of a post timestamped July 24 at 3:54 p.m. local time, in which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote about failed Gaza peace deal negotiations. A subsequent post showed a screenshot of a post from the same day at 9:16 p.m. local time in which French President Emmanuel Macron mentioned the recognition of a Palestinian state.
“The negotiations had already collapsed before France’s announcement,” the French Response account wrote. “This narrative blaming France is diverting attention from the real responsibility of Hamas in the deadlock.”
The pushback from the French foreign ministry marks the latest in growing tension stemming from the move. Rubio has previously condemned France’s decision, calling it “reckless.”
“The United States strongly rejects @EmmanuelMacron’s plan to recognize a Palestinian state at the @UN general assembly,” Rubio wrote on X at the time. “This reckless decision only serves Hamas propaganda and sets back peace. It is a slap in the face to the victims of October 7th.”
Rubio doubled down on his criticism of France’s decision to recognize Palestine in comments earlier this week.
“The minute − the day − that the French announced the thing they did, that day, Hamas walked away from the negotiating table,” Rubio said earlier this week.
“They immediately increased their demands and walked away and stopped negotiating,” he added.
