History has an unforgiving way of repeating itself. In the 1930s, European leaders convinced themselves that appeasement would buy peace.
They returned from Munich waving worthless pieces of paper and declaring triumph, only to see their delusions unravel in blood and fire.
This week, Emmanuel Macron and Sir Keir Starmer have reprised that same folly. By recognising a Palestinian state in the middle of war, they have chosen appeasement over security — and the price will be paid not in the grand halls of the United Nations, but in the streets of Milan, Paris and London.
Macron insists that recognition of Palestine is “a defeat for Hamas.” Starmer parrots the same line. But no serious observer believes that Hamas will view this as anything other than vindication. For years, the group has thrived on violence, holding Gazans hostage and raining terror on Israel. Now, as Israeli troops fight to dismantle its networks, Europe’s leaders step in to hand Hamas a propaganda victory. It is the 21st-century equivalent of Chamberlain’s umbrella at Munich: a grand gesture for the cameras, empty words for the history books, and devastating consequences for those who actually face the bullets.
The disconnect is breathtaking. In New York, Macron declaims about peace while dressed in tailored suits, Starmer nods sagely at the applause. In Milan, thousands of demonstrators clad in black attack police with batons, stones and smoke bombs. Sixty officers are left bruised and battered. Central station becomes a battlefield. This is not coincidence. Recognition of Palestine is not an abstract moral gesture — it has consequences.
It emboldens the most radical voices and spills onto Europe’s streets. Whilst Macron and Starmer might pretend otherwise, they have lit the fuse.
The Arrogance of Macron
Macron styles himself as Europe’s philosopher-king, forever strutting the stage with visions of grandeur. He lectures Israel about peace even as Iranian missiles target its cities. He claims France “never wavers” in supporting Israel, then chooses this moment — while Hamas still fires rockets — to announce recognition of Palestine. This is not balance; it is betrayal dressed up as magnanimity.
He has not delivered peace. He has delivered confusion abroad and chaos at home. France, already riven by unrest, now braces for more violent marches through Paris and Marseille. Macron has imported the conflict into his own cities for the sake of applause in New York.
Starmer’s Cowardice
If Macron’s sin is arrogance, Starmer’s is cowardice. Determined to prove that Labour is no longer the party of Corbynite antisemitism, he has lurched to a new extreme: throwing Israel under the bus to prove his “statesmanship.” Recognition of Palestine is not conviction, it is calculation. And like most of Starmer’s calculations, it will backfire.
He has alienated Britain’s Jewish community, emboldened extremists, and risked Britain’s security for the sake of a headline. The Prime Minister who sells himself as sober and steady has made one of the most reckless foreign-policy decisions of modern times.
The lesson of appeasement is not simply that tyrants cannot be pacified. It is that weakness invites aggression. Hamas, like Hitler before it, thrives on the perception that the West lacks the will to stand firm. Each concession, each symbolic “recognition,” is pocketed as a victory and followed by fresh demands. The mob in Milan understands this perfectly. Violence delivered results in Gaza, and violence can deliver results in Europe too.
Starmer and Macron have, perhaps unwittingly, confirmed that lesson. They have signalled that militancy works. And like the leaders of the 1930s, they will discover too late that this path leads only to more violence, not less.
Israel Betrayed, Terror Rewarded
At the very moment Israel fights for its survival, Europe has chosen symbolism over solidarity. Hamas has made no concessions, abandoned no rockets, renounced no terror. Yet Europe has decided to reward “Palestine” with recognition regardless. What incentive does that leave for moderation? None. What message does it send to Israelis? That their allies in Europe are fickle, more concerned with moral posturing than with the survival of the only democracy in the Middle East.
The betrayal is profound. Israel has stood with the West against Iran, against terror, against extremism. Now, in its hour of peril, Europe deserts it.
The gravest danger is not only in Gaza, but in Europe itself. By granting recognition at this moment, Macron and Starmer have imported the Middle East’s conflict into their own countries. Milan is just the beginning. Paris, Brussels, Berlin and London are all tinderboxes, where radical groups see recognition as vindication and permission to escalate.
Europe has been down this path before. The migrant crises, the riots in French banlieues, the wave of Islamist terror attacks — all stem from leaders ignoring the consequences of their policies at home. Recognition of Palestine risks turning already fragile cities into arenas of sectarian conflict.
Macron and Starmer are not peacemakers. They are performers. Their recognition of Palestine is not born of hard-headed realism but of political vanity. They will preen in front of the cameras, boast of their moral courage, and bask in fleeting applause. But the costs will be borne by police officers in riot gear, by Jewish communities facing renewed hostility, and by ordinary citizens who want nothing more than security on their own streets.
Appeasement in the 1930s did not deliver peace; it delivered catastrophe. Recognition of Palestine today, under fire and in chaos, will do the same. Macron and Starmer have chosen illusion over reality, theatre over strategy, vanity over responsibility. And it is Europe that will burn for it.
