French President Emmanuel Macron’s UN General Assembly speech touched off a diplomatic firestorm Tuesday after he appeared to claim Hamas “was never active” in the West Bank — a line Israeli officials call flatly false, and one France itself is now walking back.
Why it matters: The flap adds a fresh rift to an already tense US/Israel-France relationship, coming days after France moved to recognize a Palestinian state and as Macron used his UN podium time to criticize Israel’s conduct in both the West Bank and Lebanon.
Driving the news:
In his Sept. 22 UN General Assembly address, Macron said a line that was translated as Hamas “was never active” in the West Bank, part of broader remarks accusing Israel of violating Palestinian rights there and undermining Lebanese sovereignty.
Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon immediately challenged the claim, calling it “absolutely absurd” and saying Macron “claimed from the UN podium that Hamas has ‘never been active’ in Judea and Samaria.”
A French Foreign Ministry spokesperson told Fox News Digital that Macron “meant to say that Hamas does not govern the West Bank” and that his remarks “should therefore not be misinterpreted.”
The dispute comes days after a Hamas-linked attack in the West Bank on Sunday — the eve of Yom Kippur — that Israeli officials say killed a father of six.
By the numbers:
Sept. 22 — date of Macron’s UN General Assembly address.
1 father of six killed in a West Bank attack Israeli officials attribute to Hamas, on the eve of Yom Kippur (Sunday, Sept. 20).
1 French citizen Israeli officials say was recently murdered in the West Bank — part of the pattern they cite as contradicting Macron’s claim.
What they’re saying:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “The grotesque absurdity of Emmanuel Macron’s statement is staggering. Hamas terrorists carry out attacks against Jews almost every day.”
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee: “Hard to imagine a more out of touch with reality speech than Macron at UN. Hamas is an evil scourge, and they have killed innocent American citizens.”
Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon: “Absolutely absurd. French President Emmanuel Macron claimed from the UN podium that Hamas has ‘never been active’ in Judea and Samaria.”
The other side: France’s Foreign Ministry says Macron was misunderstood, not wrong — insisting he meant only that Hamas doesn’t formally govern the West Bank, not that it has no presence there. Macron used the same speech to press broader criticism of Israeli policy in the West Bank and Lebanon, a position he has held consistently as France has moved toward recognizing a Palestinian state.
The bottom line: Whether it was an awkward translation or a genuine overstatement, Macron’s remark handed Israel and the Trump administration a ready-made talking point at exactly the moment France is pushing a Palestinian-statehood push that Washington and Jerusalem already oppose.
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