President Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday that France will recognize the State of Palestine and that he will “make this solemn announcement before the United Nations General Assembly this coming September.”
On social media, Macron shared a letter he wrote to the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. Macron added, “The urgent priority today is to end the war in Gaza and to bring relief to the civilian population.”
Bruce Pearl, the head coach of the Auburn Tigers men’s basketball team, responded to the French President by writing: “You’re a little late Emmanuel, you see God promised the land to the Jews like almost 4000 years ago, we’re back and it’s thriving! And Israel already tried land for peace, giving the Palestinians a state, called Gaza! How’d that work out for everybody?”
You’re a little late Emmanuel, you see God promised the land to the Jews like almost 4000 years ago, we’re back and it’s thriving! And Israel already tried land for peace, giving the Palestinians a state, called Gaza! How’d that work out for everybody? https://t.co/ryQrc5Dlwz
— Bruce Pearl (@coachbrucepearl) July 24, 2025
Note: Pearl was the first president of the Jewish Coaches Association, and was named one of 100 people positively influencing Jewish life in 2022 by The Algemeiner, a newspaper based in New York City that covers American and international Jewish and Israel-related news.
Also in 2022, Pearl took his team on a 10-day preseason foreign tour to Israel, where the Tigers toured Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, among other historical sites.
Reactions to Pearl’s post on X are overwhelmingly negative. One Auburn fan replied: “Tell God to take them to court and show the court the proof of ownership, then. Santa Claus promised me my neighbor’s house. What an argument.”
One “proud conservative Christian” replied to Pearl: “You think the man made Israel state that the British drew up is the Israel in the Bible? You need to read your Bible and I pray Jesus Christ guides you!”
Muslim political pundit Bushra Shaikh also replied to Pearl: “Did God promise you British East Africa (Uganda), Argentina, Cyprus, Mesopotamia, Mozambique, and the Sinai Peninsula too? These were all considered before Palestine.”
We strongly condemn President Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state next to Tel Aviv in the wake of the October 7 massacre. Such a move rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became.
A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a…
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) July 24, 2025
Note: Pearl also reshared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s response to Macron’s decision, in which he wrote: “We strongly condemn President Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state next to Tel Aviv in the wake of the October 7 massacre. Such a move rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became.”