Netanyahu slams Macron after his UN speech: “Unimaginable absurdity”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted sharply to Emmanuel Macron following the French president’s remarks from the podium of the UN General Assembly on settler violence in the West Bank and Hamas’s actions in the region.

“The bizarre absurdity of Emmanuel Macron’s stance is unimaginable,” the Israeli prime minister’s office said, accusing the French president of “ignorance” and adding that this was no excuse.

The Israeli prime minister’s office reacted sharply to Macron’s assessment that Hamas does not operate in the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority exercises power.

“Hamas terrorists carry out attacks against Jews almost every day. They have killed countless Israeli civilians in Judea and Samaria,” the statement said, using the biblical name for the West Bank.

The Israeli side also referred to the killing, on Sunday, of an Israeli settler and father of six children, who also held French citizenship.

The Israeli military said the Palestinian suspected of carrying out the attack was arrested in a hospital and military forces raided his village. A member of Netanyahu’s government called for his execution under a new law.

In his speech before the General Assembly, Emmanuel Macron referred extensively both to the situation in the West Bank and to the war in the Gaza Strip.

The French president condemned the violence of Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, which has intensified in recent months.

According to UN data, by mid-2026 an average of about six violent incidents per day were recorded linked to settler actions against Palestinians or their property.

Referring to Gaza, Macron wondered what the “credibility” of the international community could be “if we continue to remain inactive”, speaking of a “spectacle that shames us all”.

He also argued that the two-state solution remains a necessary condition for “Israel’s security and that of its people today and tomorrow”.