Pictured Above: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and French President Emmanuel Macron make a joint appearance in Paris in July. Credit: YouTube.

(JNS.org) France’s President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday he will visit Israel next year amid a new French peace push in the Middle East.

Macron made the announcement when speaking with some 200 French diplomats in Paris. He said he intends to advance a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and that Israel’s capital of Jerusalem should also be the Palestinian capital. The French leader is also slated to visit Lebanon, Jordan and the disputed territories next year. 

On the eve of France’s presidential election in May, then-candidate Macron stated that unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state would create instability and damage France’s relationship with Israel. At the same time, Macron blasted Israel for its continued “colonization process,” referring to settlement construction, which he argued threatens a two-state solution. 

Macron has previously referred to boycotts of Israel as “profoundly anti-Semitic,” and has said anti-Zionism “leads directly to anti-Semitism.”

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