By: Fern Sidman

French President Emmanuel Macron’s quiet attempt to convene a meeting with leading American Jewish organizations during the United Nations General Assembly later this month has collapsed before it began, revealing deep mistrust between Jewish leadership in the United States and the embattled French head of state.

According to a report that appeared on Saturday on i24NEWS, Macron’s proposed sit-down with groups such as AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League, and the American Jewish Committee was scheduled to take place on the sidelines of the annual diplomatic gathering in New York. Yet the plan unraveled for several reasons, foremost among them the timing: the French president’s only availability coincided with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, making participation effectively impossible for observant leaders.

But as i24NEWS has learned from multiple sources with knowledge of the discussions, the scheduling conflict provided a convenient cover for a much deeper reality: organized American Jewry had little appetite to meet Macron in the first place.

One individual invited to the meeting told i24NEWS bluntly that most of the invited organizations would have declined. “The guy has a 15% popularity rating in France. It’s not our job to help him out,” the source remarked, underscoring the sense that Macron sought the meeting as much for political optics as for substantive dialogue.

This individual stressed that any encounter with Macron would have quickly turned contentious, citing his recent statements on Israel, his government’s push for recognition of a Palestinian state, and what critics describe as France’s inadequate response to rising antisemitism at home. “Everybody in the room would have taken a hard line with Macron,” the source told i24NEWS, adding that the meeting risked providing the French president with a veneer of legitimacy rather than advancing Jewish communal concerns.

The overlap with Rosh Hashanah gave Jewish organizations a simple way to sidestep a politically fraught decision. As one leader told i24NEWS, “G-d saves us every time.”

While the timing alone was sufficient to sink Macron’s overture, insiders say the outcome would likely have been the same regardless. In fact, according to the report on i24NEWS, there was already a strong internal consensus forming among Jewish organizations to decline. The holiday merely spared them from having to issue an explicit rejection that could have strained ties further.

Underlying much of the skepticism toward Macron is his aggressive push for international recognition of a Palestinian state. As i24NEWS reported, France announced this summer that it intends to recognize Palestinian statehood later this month and has been working to rally other countries behind the effort.

The move has angered Israel, which sees unilateral recognition as rewarding Palestinian intransigence while undermining prospects for negotiated peace. Macron has presented his initiative as a path toward renewed diplomacy, but many Jewish leaders view it as dangerously naïve and out of step with Israel’s security realities.

According to the information provided in the i24NEWS report, Macron even explored the possibility of visiting Israel ahead of the UN General Assembly to bolster his credibility on the issue. Yet the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office advised him that the timing was inappropriate, effectively rebuffing his overture.

Tensions between Paris and Jerusalem have only intensified in recent months. Sources told i24NEWS that Israel is weighing retaliatory measures against France’s recognition campaign, including the potential closure of the French consulate in Jerusalem. That consulate primarily serves Palestinians in Judea and Samaria, and its closure would represent a significant diplomatic escalation.

The friction is part of a broader deterioration in Franco-Israeli relations, with Macron increasingly aligning himself with European voices critical of Israeli policies. His comments calling for restraint in Gaza, coupled with his overtures to Palestinian Authority leaders, have deepened skepticism among Israeli officials and Jewish leaders abroad.

Another central issue undermining Macron’s standing with American Jewry is France’s struggle to contain antisemitism at home. French Jews have endured a wave of violent incidents in recent years, from terror attacks on synagogues and kosher markets to assaults in Jewish neighborhoods. While Macron has repeatedly condemned antisemitism, critics argue that his government has failed to address root causes or adequately protect Jewish communities.

As one Jewish leader told i24NEWS, Macron’s rhetoric rings hollow when juxtaposed with lived realities. “The failure to respond to antisemitism in France is glaring. Meeting with us would not erase that,” the source said.

For many in the American Jewish establishment, Macron’s push for Palestinian recognition coupled with his inability to confront antisemitism at home makes him an unreliable partner.

Ultimately, insiders told i24NEWS, the proposed meeting was less about policy dialogue and more about optics. Macron’s team sought the photo opportunity of engaging with influential Jewish leaders, thereby signaling to domestic and international audiences that he is a credible interlocutor on Jewish and Middle Eastern affairs.

But American Jewish organizations, wary of being used for political theater, concluded there was little to be gained. “The climate allows one to say, ‘Look, the American Jews met with me,’ regardless of the content,” one person familiar with the matter told i24NEWS, highlighting the perception that Macron was chasing headlines rather than solutions.

It is important to note, as i24NEWS did, that American Jewish organizations are not a monolith. While groups such as AIPAC, the ADL, and the AJC are among the most prominent, the landscape includes dozens of organizations with varying priorities and ideologies. One source emphasized that it cannot be ruled out that Macron may eventually succeed in arranging a meeting with certain representatives. Still, the overwhelming majority appear firmly opposed.

In that sense, the scuttled meeting reflects a rare point of consensus among otherwise diverse Jewish groups: Macron is not seen as a trustworthy or effective partner.

The rejection by American Jewish leaders comes at a precarious time for Macron, whose approval rating in France has sunk to around 15 percent. Facing widespread domestic discontent over economic struggles and political polarization, Macron has increasingly sought to bolster his profile on the international stage.

Engaging with American Jewry — a community influential in both U.S. politics and global Jewish affairs — could have offered him a symbolic win. Instead, as i24NEWS reported, his initiative has backfired, reinforcing the perception that his outreach lacks authenticity and substance.

The collapse of Macron’s effort to meet American Jewish leaders underscores the growing gulf between Paris and the Jewish world. Timing played a role, with Rosh Hashanah making attendance impossible, but the deeper issue is one of credibility.

As i24NEWS reported, Jewish leaders doubted the sincerity of Macron’s approach and bristled at his policies toward Israel and Palestinian recognition. His failure to effectively address antisemitism in France further eroded trust.

For Macron, the episode is a sobering reminder that symbolic gestures cannot substitute for genuine engagement or policy alignment. For American Jewry, it is a demonstration of their resolve to resist being drawn into political theater that does not serve their communities or Israel’s interests.

In the end, the meeting that never took place may speak louder than one that did. It highlights not only the strained state of Franco-Jewish relations but also the limits of Macron’s international influence at a time when he most needs it.