French President Emmanuel Macron triggered a diplomatic row at the UN after saying Hamas had “never been active” in the West Bank, prompting sharp criticism from Israeli officials. France later said Macron was referring to Hamas “not governing” the territory.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York on September 22, Macron criticised the situation in the occupied West Bank while discussing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“Look at what’s happening in the West Bank, where day in and day out we are seeing violations, and in the name of what? Hamas was never active in the West Bank,” Macron then said the continuing situation was making it increasingly difficult to achieve a political settlement based on Palestinian rights.
The wording drew criticism from Israeli officials, who argued that Hamas has maintained a presence in the West Bank and has carried out attacks there. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office described Macron’s statement as a “grotesque absurdity”, saying Hamas militants had carried out attacks against Israelis in the territory. Israeli officials also pointed to the killing on September 20 of Netanel Shukrun, a French-Israeli father of six, in a West Bank attack that Israel attributed to a Hamas terrorist.
The controversy appears to have centred partly on translation.
A French diplomatic official subsequently explained that Macron “meant to say that Hamas does not govern the West Bank.” A separate French source stated that Macron’s French phrase, “le Hamas n’a jamais sévi en Cisjordanie,” had been interpreted too literally in English and that the intended meaning was that Hamas has never governed the West Bank.