The U.S. must immediately follow French President Emmanuel Macron’s lead and recognize a Palestinian state as a “famine-made-in-Israel” sweeps Gaza, Jill Stein has said.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza has deteriorated in recent months, with mounting international pressure on Israel and warnings of mass starvation. Images released last week of emaciated children have shocked the world.
“Of course Palestine deserves statehood, as long declared by the United Nations,” Stein told Newsweek. “But this is not the first order of business as famine-made-in-Israel sweeps the Gaza Strip. Israel is conducting the fastest starvation campaign in modern history, according to the U.N. Rapporteur on Food. Over 2 million lives are in immediate peril, over half of them children.”
The Green Party 2024 presidential candidate said the crisis “is the intended consequence of Israel’s genocidal ban blocking food, water, electricity and fuel from reaching the ‘human animals’ of Gaza, as announced by then Defense Minister Gallant in October 2023 and ramped up 80 days ago.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has denied what it called “the false claim of deliberate starvation” in Gaza. On Sunday, the Israeli military began a limited pause in fighting in three parts of Gaza for 10 hours a day as part of a series of measures announced to address the humanitarian crisis.
Israel said the military carried out several aid airdrops into Gaza over the weekend and would establish humanitarian corridors.
Why It Matters
Palestinians have long campaigned for an independent state comprising the occupied West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza. Israel has occupied these territories since the 1967 Six-Day War.
Israel is largely opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state, and even more so after the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack by Hamas militants, which left around 1,200 people dead and 251 taken hostage.
Israel’s subsequent war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians, over half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Israel has restricted aid into Gaza, stating, without evidence, that Hamas was using shipments to bolster its position. It has also accused the U.N. of failing to cooperate on the distribution of aid.
The World Food Program warned in a statement that a third of Gaza’s population of around 2 million were not eating for days. It said that nearly half a million people were enduring famine-like conditions.
What to Know
Macron announced Thursday that France will recognize Palestine as a state, expressing outrage at the Palestinian death toll and starvation in Gaza. It was a bold, but largely symbolic, diplomatic move. Once formalized at the U.N. General Assembly in September, France will become the biggest Western power to call for a Palestinian state. More than 140 countries recognize Palestine as a state.
Stein, who placed the war in Gaza at the forefront of her 2024 presidential election campaign, said the U.S. must immediately follow suit.
“Having provided 80% of weapons, funding and diplomatic cover for this genocidal assault, the US fully shares responsibility with Israel,” she said. “We must stop blocking Palestinian statehood, which is supported by at least 75% of U.N. members. But for Palestinians to survive to populate this state, we must first adopt an immediate ban on military and economic aid to Israel until it complies with international law, ends its siege, allows aid to flow, and agrees to a cease fire and an end to genocide and occupation.”
Israel denies it is committing genocide in Gaza. It says it is prepared to end the war if Hamas surrenders, disarms and goes into exile. Hamas has rejected these demands.
What People Are Saying
Stein told Newsweek: “In short, the world is recoiling in horror as we witness the utter dismantling of international law, human rights and basic decency. This is a threat not just to Palestine, but also to the people of Israel, whose future in a full-blown apartheid authoritarian state is bleak, as noted by Holocaust scholar Omer Bartov. It is also a threat to people of the world including Americans, whose position as top dog in the global order is shakier by the day. We too will be vulnerable in a world ruled by the law of the jungle, rather than the law of nations currently under attack.”
Macron wrote in his statement on X on Thursday: “The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved.”
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, condemned Macron’s decision, saying in a statement: “Such a move rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became. A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launchpad to annihilate Israel—not to live in peace beside it.”
President Donald Trump, responding to Macron’s announcement on Friday said: “What he says doesn’t matter. He’s a very good guy. I like him, but that statement doesn’t carry weight.”
Israeli Permanent Representative to the U.N. Danny Danon said in a statement shared with Newsweek: “Neither international conferences disconnected from reality nor unilateral statements at the U.N. will lead to peace.
“Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state after the massacre of Oct. 7 and precisely at a time when Hamas is still holding hostages is a disgraceful reward for terrorism. Anyone who ignores the reality on the ground—that Israel has no partner for peace—harms not only Israel but the stability of the entire region.”
Tom Cotton, a Republican Senator from Arkansas, responded to Macron’s statement by saying on X: “This is a shameful endorsement of terrorists. The best way for this conflict to end is to back Israel in its righteous mission of rescuing the hostages and defeating Hamas.”
What Happens Next
Israel said the “tactical pause” in the heavily-populated areas of Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Muwasi will run from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily and will increase humanitarian aid to Gaza.
However, wider ceasefire efforts remain in doubt. Israel and the U.S. on Thursday withdrew negotiating teams from Qatar, where talks had been taking place. They blamed Hamas for the breakdown, with Israel saying “alternative options” were being considered to talks.
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