The inauguration of newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron has many in Israel speculating about what the policies of France’s new government will be, vis-à-vis Israel.

In fact, the young French president deemed by many political pundits to be a new type of “centrist outsider,” may serve as an interesting case study in terms of French foreign-policy decision-making on Israel.

“I think most of the people (in the new government) have not been dealing with the issue of Israel or the Middle East, including President (Macron) and Prime Minister (Edouard Philippe),” explained former Israeli Ambassador to France, Avi Pazner, to European Jewish Press.

“It is therefore, very early in the game to know what will be the policy of the new French government to Israel.”

Previously, Macron’s area of interest with Israel has been the economic sector. In this regard, he expressed admiration for Israel’s economic potential during a visit to the Jewish state in the fall of 2015 while he was serving as Economy Minister for his presidential predecessor, Francois Hollande.

“I was impressed by Macron’s brightness and knowledge of the Israeli economy,” Pazner said, while looking back on an event he attended with Macron at the French Ambassador’s residence in Israel.

“He told us how impressed he was by Israel’s economy and high-tech, but did not go into any political questions since it was not his area of interest,” Pazner stressed.

While his visit mainly focused on economic affairs, Macron made brief remarks on policy dealing with Israeli products from the West Bank regions of Judea and Samaria.

“The French and European diplomatic position is clear and has not changed and will not change,” he said during his visit, with regards to the decision of the European Union to label Israeli products in Judea and Samaria separately from products made within Israel’s pre-1967 boundaries.

Macron had also emphasized at the time that “we are against any practice such as that of the BDS [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] movement” against Israel.

He also expressed opposition towards unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state during an interview on French television in early May, saying that “unilateral recognition of Palestine, right now, will undermine stability” and would “have implications in the loss of the entire relationship with the state of Israel.”

Macron’s remarks contrast with the position taken by many in France’s political mainstream towards unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.

France’s Foreign Minister in the new government Jean-Yves Le Drian, may ultimately present as a more interesting case study than Macron.

“The new Foreign Minister (Jean-Yves Le Drian) was Minister of Fefense in the government of President Hollande, and we enjoyed good relations then,” Pazner noted.

However, it remains to be seen if Le Drian will act similarly at his ministerial post in the new government.

“Now that he’s moved to the foreign ministry, I’m not sure know what the effect of this move will be because traditionally, the French foreign ministry has been very pro-Palestinian and pro-Arab,” he continued. “We’ll see if the new foreign minister will follow in the path of almost all his predecessors.”

A first glimpse of this traditional Quai d’Orsay (the French foreign ministry) policy line was given end of May when France voted in favour of an anti-Israel resolution in the World Health Organization (WHO) proposed by…..Syria. Although the resolution removed explicit language condemning Israel, Crif, the umbrella representative group of French Jewish institutions, criticized France's vote. ‘’Again, France has lost a chance to stand out internationally, a chance to stand on the side of courageous nations who refuse to bleat with the sheep,’’ said Crif Executive Director Robert Ejnes.

According to Pazner “we have to wait for the results of Sunday's parliamentary elections in France because it will have an impact on the government as well.”

Pazner believes that many of the French citizens living in Israel are also uncertain about what to expect from Macron’s government in terms of Israel.

“I think their approach is similar to mine in that we don’t know,“ he said.

The ambassador also stressed that the overwhelming electoral support for Macron from French Jews in the second round of the 2017 French presidential election, should not be understood as an expression of full confidence in Macron.

“Macron’s opponent in the second round of course was Marine Le Pen whose party was tainted with anti-Semitism, so it doesn’t necessarily mean they are staunch supporters of Macron.”

Jonathan Benedek, Journalist based in Jerusalem. Yossi Lempkowicz contributed to this report.