In a grandstanding speech at the United Nations aimed at lecturing Israel and the world about Palestinian sovereignty on Tuesday, French president Emmanuel Macron unleashed a claim so glaringly false that it leaves one wondering what universe Paris is living in.
“Hamas has never operated in the West Bank,” Macron declared.
That outrageous statement is a brutal rewrite of modern history.
To assert that the terrorist group Hamas has not “operated” in the Biblical areas as Judea and Samaria — misnamed the “West Bank” — let alone ignore their murderous actions, is to ignore decades of soaked blood and shattered lives. The historical record is crystal-clear.
Hamas cells based in Judea and Samaria have systematically orchestrated hundreds of shootings, suicide bombings, stabbings, and ambushes targeting innocent civilians.
Here’s a quick history lesson for Macron:
Hamas operatives from Judea and Samaria were behind the horrific 2001 Sbarro pizzeria bombing in Jerusalem, which led to the murders of 15 people. A 16th victim died in 2023 after more than two decades in a coma. A Hamas suicide bomber from Tulkarm carried out the 2002 Park Hotel Passover massacre in Netanya, killing 30 people at a holiday seder. Hebron-based Hamas cells were behind the 2003 Jerusalem bus bombing (23 dead), which Islamic Jihad also claimed, and the twin bus bombings in Beersheba in 2004 (16 dead).
The carnage didn’t end in the 2000s. In 2014, a Hebron-based Hamas cell kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teenagers in Gush Etzion. Senior Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri later acknowledged Hamas’s role, and the killings helped ignite that year’s Gaza conflict. More recently, Hamas claimed responsibility for the June 2023 shooting in Eli that killed four. It also claimed a January 2025 attack in al-Funduq that left three dead, though Israeli security officials said the gunmen belonged to the allied Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Last year, a Hamas member opened fire on a vehicle near Bruchin, killing Tzeela Gez, a pregnant woman on her way to give birth. Her baby, delivered by emergency C-section, died two weeks later.
To tell the international community that Hamas “has never operated” in these areas is an insult to hundreds of terror victims and a shocking denial of reality.
The Israeli prime minister’s office blasted Macron, writing, “The grotesque absurdity of Emmanuel Macron’s statement is staggering. On Sunday, the eve of Yom Kippur, just two days ago, Netanel Shukrun — a FRENCH CITIZEN and father of six — was murdered in his car by a Hamas terrorist in Judea and Samaria. With his final breath, he told his son to run.”
“Hamas terrorists carry out attacks against Jews almost every day. They have murdered countless Israeli civilians in Judea and Samaria. Ignorance is NO EXCUSE for erasing their blood,” the office added.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee added, “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.”
Macron’s wild falsehoods didn’t stop there.
Throughout his address, the French president pushed a tired, inaccurate narrative regarding Palestinian rights and Israeli actions. He lamented, “Sovereignty for the Palestinians, whose most basic rights are still being violated today.”
He glossed over basic facts regarding the Middle East. Arab citizens of Israel make up roughly 21% of the country’s population, and they hold full citizenship, vote in free elections, serve as high-court judges, and even form political parties that have joined governing coalitions. The civil liberties, legal protections, and political freedoms enjoyed by Arabs inside democratic Israel stand in stark contrast to the repressive policies, lack of free elections, and severe restrictions on women’s rights found across much of the Arab world.
Macron further attacked Israel’s campaign against terrorism, leaning into cynical talking points meant to delegitimize its defense, saying, “A year ago, right here, around a dozen of us recognized Palestine. I hear the cynicism of some: ‘A paper recognition, look at reality.’ But what credibility do we have if we remain inactive in the face of Gaza?”
Military experts reject these characterizations. As John Spencer, chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, has authoritatively noted, “By no definition (words have meaning) has Israel done a genocide in Gaza. Not by the definition’s intent or actions requirements. No actual evidence support the intent or actions allegation. The government of Israel was in a war against the terror army of Hamas in Gaza after they invaded Israel on October 7th and withdrew into Gaza with 250 hostages; they were also at war with the terror army (more equipped than many nations) Hezbollah in Lebanon after they attack on October 8th. Israel is not working to exterminate an unarmed civilian population in Gaza or Lebanon. No evidence shows they have targeted civilians.”
Instead of holding accountable the terrorists who start wars, use human shields, and launch attacks from both Gaza and Judea and Samaria, Macron opted to indulge in cheap, ungrounded rhetoric on the world stage.
But grandstanding politicians cannot destroy reality. The facts remain, and Macron’s absurd claims stand thoroughly debunked.
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