JERUSALEM — Israel responded furiously on Tuesday to French President Emmanuel Macron after he criticized Israeli operations in the West Bank, asserting that Hamas maintains no presence in the territory governed by the Palestinian Authority.
“The grotesque absurdity of Emmanuel Macron’s statement is staggering,” Netanyahu’s office declared in a statement. The Prime Minister is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly on Thursday.
The statement insisted that Hamas terrorists perpetrate near-daily attacks against Israelis, killing countless civilians in Judea and Samaria — the biblical term Israel uses for the West Bank, captured in 1967.
Netanyahu’s office cited the fatal shooting on Sunday, on the eve of Yom Kippur, of Israeli settler Netanel Shukrun, a father of six who also held French citizenship.
The Israeli military apprehended the Palestinian gunman at a hospital and subsequently raided his village. A minister in Netanyahu’s cabinet demanded the attacker’s execution under recently enacted legislation.
Meanwhile, extremist Israeli settlers frequently carry out violent attacks and property theft against Palestinians in the West Bank. The United Nations documented an average of roughly six settler-related violent incidents per day through mid-2024.
In his UN address, Macron deplored the humanitarian crisis in Gaza — where Hamas launched the October 7, 2023 assault, the deadliest in Israel’s history — alongside Israeli actions in the West Bank.
“What is our credibility worth if we remain inactive on Gaza?” Macron asked. “Some claim that peace has been achieved, yet humanitarian deliveries remain blocked. It is a spectacle that shames us all.”
“Look at what is happening in the West Bank, where violations occur daily. In whose name? Hamas has never struck in the West Bank. This makes the realization of the Palestinian people’s legitimate right to exist increasingly impossible.”
The Palestinian Authority, dominated by Hamas rivals, exercises limited self-rule in major West Bank urban centers, while Israel retains control over the majority of the territory.
Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, two years after Israel’s unilateral disengagement and dismantlement of settlements there.
Relations between Netanyahu and Macron have deteriorated; the French president spearheaded a Western push at last year’s UN General Assembly for recognition of a Palestinian state.
France recently joined the United Kingdom in imposing sanctions on goods produced in Israeli West Bank settlements, further straining ties with Jerusalem.