Israel has hit back at French President Emmanuel Macron after he condemned Israeli actions in the West Bank and said Hamas was not operating in the Palestinian Authority-administered territory.
“The grotesque absurdity of Emmanuel Macron’s statement is staggering,” the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. Mr Netanyahu is expected to deliver a defiant address to the United Nations on Thursday.
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“Hamas terrorists carry out attacks against Jews almost every day. They have murdered countless Israeli civilians in Judea and Samaria,” the statement said, using the Biblical names for the West Bank, which Israel seized in 1967.
Mr Netanyahu’s office cited the shooting death on Sunday, on the eve of Judaism’s holiest day, Yom Kippur, of an Israeli settler in the West Bank. Israel said the victim, Netanel Shukrun, was a father of six and also held French citizenship.
Extremist Israeli settlers regularly attack Palestinians and damage or steal their property in the West Bank. The United Nations said that, through mid-2026, the territory recorded roughly six settler-related violent incidents against Palestinians or their property each day.
Mr Macron spoke during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York
Addressing the United Nations, Mr Macron condemned the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and criticised Israeli actions 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.
“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 exercises semi-autonomous control over major urban areas of the West Bank, while Israel controls most of the territory.
Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, two years after Israel withdrew from the territory and dismantled its settlements there.
Relations between Mr Netanyahu and Mr Macron have been strained, with the French president leading a Western push 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, a move that further angered the Israeli government.
