Israel has launched a blistering rebuttal against French President Emmanuel Macron after he criticised Israeli actions in the West Bank and argued that Hamas was not operating in the territory governed in part by the Palestinian Authority.
“The grotesque absurdity of Emmanuel Macron’s statement is staggering,” said a statement by the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is expected to deliver a defiant address to the world body on Thursday.
Rejecting Mr Macron’s remarks, the prime minister’s office said Hamas activity in the area was a near-daily reality. “Hamas terrorists carry out attacks against Jews almost every day. They have murdered countless Israeli civilians in Judea and Samaria,” it said, using the Biblical name for the West Bank, which Israel seized in 1967.
Mr Netanyahu’s office highlighted the shooting death on Sunday, on the eve of Judaism’s holiest day of Yom Kippur, of an Israeli settler in the West Bank. Israel said the victim, father of six Netanel Shukrun, also had French citizenship.
The Israeli military said it arrested the Palestinian gunman at a hospital and that troops later raided his village. A minister in Mr Netanyahu’s government called for his execution under a new law.
At the same time, extremist Israeli settlers frequently attack and steal from West Bank Palestinians. The United Nations said there were about six settler-related violent incidents against Palestinians or their property daily through mid-2026 in the territory.
Mr Macron spoke during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York
Addressing the United Nations, Mr Macron lamented both the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Israel’s conduct in the West Bank.
“What is our credibility worth if we remain inactive on Gaza? Some claim that peace has been achieved, but this has not opened up humanitarian deliveries. It is a spectacle that shames us all,” Mr Macron said.
He then turned to the occupied territory, describing persistent abuses and questioning their justification. “Look at what is happening in West Bank, where there are violations every day. In the name of what? Hamas has never struck in the West Bank. This every day makes it more impossible to achieve respect for the Palestinian people’s legitimate right to exist.”
The Palestinian Authority have semi-autonomy in major urban areas of the West Bank, with Israel controlling most of the territory.
Hamas took over Gaza in 2007, two years after Israel pulled out and dismantled settlements.
Mr Netanyahu has poor relations with Mr Macron, who led a push by Western nations at last year’s UN General Assembly to recognise a Palestinian state.
France recently joined Britain in imposing sanctions on products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, again angering the Israeli government.
