French source says Macron's Hamas remark was a translation error

Update, 23 September, 12:08 Israel time

A French source has told the Jerusalem Post that Macron's line about Hamas and the West Bank was a translation problem rather than a statement of French policy. The Jerusalem Post reported that the source described the widely circulated English rendering of the president's remark at the General Assembly as a misinterpretation. The article is the first indication in this material of any French pushback on how the sentence was understood, after the earlier reports contained no comment from Paris.

The paper's account does not set out what the source says Macron intended to say, and no on-the-record statement from the Elysee or the French mission to the UN appears in the material. Israeli officials quoted earlier have not responded to the translation explanation.

Ynet published a survey arguing that Hamas has been active in the West Bank for close to four decades, tracing an underground infrastructure from the late 1980s through the intifadas and subsequent attacks, and saying the movement's leadership in Judea and Samaria was also involved in the war that began on 7/10. Ynet named Netanel Shukrun, killed at a spring, as the most recent victim it attributes to the organisation in the territory. Ynet presents this as a rebuttal to the president; it is the outlet's own analysis rather than an official finding.

The story as first reported

French President Emmanuel Macron told the United Nations General Assembly that Hamas had never operated in the West Bank, a claim that drew rapid criticism from Israeli politicians and analysts. The Times of Israel reported that Macron, speaking during the 81st session of the General Assembly at UN headquarters, pointed to events in the West Bank and said: "Hamas has never been active in the West Bank."

In the passage circulated in Hebrew by several Israeli outlets, including the Telegram channel of the Arab affairs account Abu Ali Express, Macron asked his audience to look at what was happening in the West Bank, said violations were being seen day after day, and argued that respecting the Palestinian people's legitimate right to exist was a necessary condition for the security of the Israeli people, now and in the future. The same passage was posted by the Israeli journalist Amit Segal and by the Hebrew outlet News.co.il.

What Macron said, and where

The remarks were made from the podium of the General Assembly, the annual gathering in New York where heads of state and government deliver national statements. Macron also, according to Ynet, said that anyone who argues that Israel's security runs through violating the sovereignty of its neighbours is making a fatal error, and made an implied criticism of US President Donald Trump over Gaza, referring to a "so-called" peace.

The West Bank, and what Hamas does there

The West Bank, referred to in Israeli official language as Judea and Samaria, is the territory west of the Jordan River that Israel captured in the Six Day War and where the Palestinian Authority exercises limited civil and security control in parts, alongside Israeli military control and Israeli settlements. Hamas, the Islamist movement that seized control of the Gaza Strip after winning Palestinian legislative elections, is the rival of Fatah, the faction that dominates the Palestinian Authority.

The Times of Israel noted in its report that while Hamas does not govern the West Bank as it governs Gaza, it has maintained a presence there over a long period and has carried out attacks against Israelis in the area. Joe Truzman, an analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank, wrote on X that Macron's statement was erroneous and that Hamas has operated in the territory for decades. Truzman said Hamas operatives have continued to organise and carry out attacks there, and named Zaher Jabarin, a senior Hamas official, as long associated with the organisation's West Bank portfolio.

The Israeli response

Israeli reaction was immediate but was attributed to different figures by different outlets. The Times of Israel reported that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich responded that "President Macron is lying," and wrote that a terrorist from Hamas had murdered Netanel Shukrun, who was bathing with his sons at a spring ahead of Yom Kippur. Smotrich described the killing as one attack among hundreds carried out by Hamas, and said the organisation fuels Arab terrorism in Judea and Samaria.

Ynet, in its summary of the speech, attributed a response to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called Macron's statement absurd and said that a French citizen had been murdered by a Hamas terrorist in Judea and Samaria that same week. The two reports do not describe the same statement, and it is not clear from the material whether both men spoke or whether one outlet misattributed a remark. We are not resolving that here.

Abu Ali Express, whose Hebrew post was reproduced by several channels, wrote that Macron was displaying ignorance at best or a deliberate rewriting of history at worst, and called for Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar to respond. Amit Segal wrote that saying Hamas had not operated in the West Bank was comparable to describing Macron as a tall, successful and popular president.

Why the claim matters diplomatically

France has been among the European states pressing for Palestinian statehood and has repeatedly criticised Israeli policy in the West Bank. A statement from the French president distinguishing the West Bank from Hamas activity carries political weight because it bears on the argument over whether Israeli security operations in the territory are justified by the presence of the group that carried out the assault on southern Israel and holds hostages in Gaza. Israeli officials treat that distinction as factually wrong, which is why the reaction focused on documented attacks rather than on the wider dispute over statehood.

What the reports do not say

The material does not include the full text of Macron's address, so it is not possible to say what preceded or followed the sentence in question, or whether he drew a distinction between Hamas governance and Hamas activity. None of the reports contains a clarification or follow-up from the Elysee.

The reports also do not give details of the killing cited in the Israeli responses beyond what the ministers said: there is no location, no account of an investigation, and no independent confirmation in this material of the attribution to Hamas. Whether the victim named by Smotrich and the French citizen referred to in Ynet's account of Netanyahu's remarks are the same person is not stated. No response from Hamas, the Palestinian Authority or the French government appears in the material.