Macron in the Middle East: Where does France stand on Israel-Hamas war?

We ask about Paris's official policy going forward and the acrimony at home over the far left's refusal to brand Hamas a terror organisation and over the government’s blanket ban on pro-Palestinian demonstrations, a ban that's since been overturned by the courts. How toxic is it this time in France? The whole world feels a stake in the land that's three times holy and the French are no exception. From the Crusaders and Napoleon to de Gaulle and Chirac, the Middle East plays a part in our own collective narrative. If this is a watershed moment for the Middle East, then which way is it headed? 

He landed in Tel Aviv and before he'd left the airport, Emmanuel Macron met families of the victims of the October 7 attacks. Thirty French citizens were killed on the day. Nine remain missing, possibly hostages. Macron made the rounds by meeting with the president, the prime minister and leaders of the opposition. In Benjamin Netanyahu's company, he talked tough on Hamas with an idea that drew everyone's attention. The backlash was immediate: putting Hamas in the same bag as the Islamic State group would be tantamount to France ruling out a peaceful solution for Gaza and endorsing all-out war.

After Dutch PM Mark Rutte on Monday, Emmanuel Macron made the trip to Ramallah and sat down with Mahmoud Abbas, something US President Joe Biden couldn't do the day after the Gaza hospital bombing. The conflict is creating an ongoing war of words here in France. The latest episode was sparked by the speaker of parliament's weekend visit to Israel, judged too one-sided by the firebrand far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the same Mélenchon who refuses to brand Hamas a terror group.

While the French left tears itself apart, the far right's