Pompeo Challenges Macron Over Hamas in West Bank

Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sharply criticized French President Emmanuel Macron over his remarks about Hamas in the West Bank, accusing the French leader of minimizing the terrorist organization’s documented presence there. Macron’s UN address was translated as saying Hamas had “never been active in the West Bank,” a statement that immediately drew criticism from Israeli officials.

“The outrageous claim by Emmanuel Macron, according to which Hamas ‘was never particularly active in the West Bank,’ clearly illustrates the mindset of many of Israel’s opponents in the West,” Pompeo said. He described that approach as a combination of ignorance and the whitewashing of terrorism.

Proverbs 18:17 says, “He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him.” In a debate carrying consequences for Israeli security, precise facts matter. Political disagreements over Judea and Samaria can remain intense without erasing the documented presence of Hamas networks in the territory.

Hamas in the West Bank Is Documented

Taken literally, the claim that Hamas has never operated in the West Bank conflicts with a substantial record. In June, Israel’s Shin Bet said it had disrupted dozens of Hamas attack plots directed by operatives based in Turkey. The agency specifically identified a Hamas “West Bank Headquarters” responsible for recruiting operatives, moving weapons and advancing attacks against Israelis.

More recently, Israel killed Hamas operative Qais Bitawi in an August airstrike near Jenin. Hamas itself confirmed Bitawi’s membership. The IDF said he had helped plan and carry out attacks against Israeli civilians and security forces while maintaining links with Hamas operatives abroad and in Gaza.

The United States has also designated Hamas as a Foreign Terrorist Organization since 1997. That classification reflects decades of American policy toward the group, not simply Israel’s assessment of it. The State Department has documented Hamas attacks against Israelis and noted that Americans were among those killed and kidnapped on October 7.

That record explains why Pompeo’s criticism resonated with Israeli officials. Security policy in Judea and Samaria cannot be analyzed accurately if Hamas activity there is treated as nonexistent.

France Says Macron Meant Hamas Does Not Govern

There is, however, an important clarification. A French diplomatic official later told The Times of Israel that Macron meant to say Hamas “does not govern the West Bank,” rather than that the organization has never operated there. The Palestinian Authority, Hamas’s political rival, administers major Palestinian population centers in the territory. Hamas has controlled Gaza since violently ousting the PA there in 2007.

That distinction substantially changes the meaning. Saying Hamas does not govern Judea and Samaria is factually different from saying Hamas has never been active there. France has also maintained that its criticism of Israeli settlement policy is aimed at preserving a two-state solution while continuing to support Israel’s security.

The controversy therefore illustrates the danger of imprecise language at the UN. If Macron intended to distinguish PA-controlled areas from Hamas-ruled Gaza, the wording or translation obscured that argument. If read literally, the statement leaves out a documented security reality that Israel confronts.

The dispute adds another layer to the French-American divide examined in “Macron Backs ICC After Trump Calls for Withdrawal.” There, Macron defended international judicial institutions while Trump emphasized sovereignty and challenged the ICC’s authority. Here, the disagreement concerns how Western governments describe the threat Israel faces on the ground.

Truth, Security and National Responsibility

For Israel, the issue reaches beyond a semantic dispute. Hamas cells, recruitment networks and planned attacks in Judea and Samaria affect decisions about intelligence, arrests, checkpoints and military operations. Those policies remain open to legitimate criticism, but serious debate requires acknowledging the security threats they are designed to address.

Washington has a related interest. American citizens have been victims of Hamas terrorism, and successive U.S. administrations have treated the organization as a terrorist group for nearly three decades. Accurate descriptions of Hamas activity therefore affect American counterterrorism policy as well as support for an ally facing the organization directly.

Israel’s covenantal tradition places particular weight on preserving Jewish life and refusing to forget threats against the Jewish people. America’s national tradition developed separately, but it has also tied liberty and national defense to responsibility under God and the protection of citizens from terrorism. In both contexts, policy arguments become weaker when basic facts about an armed organization are blurred.

That does not mean every Israeli policy in Judea and Samaria is beyond criticism. France has raised documented concerns about settlement expansion and settler violence, and those questions deserve independent scrutiny. But those debates should not require minimizing Hamas’s own presence or activity.

Pompeo’s response places that factual dispute at the center of the argument. Whatever Macron intended, the record shows that Hamas in the West Bank is not hypothetical. A serious discussion about Palestinian rights, Israeli security and the future of the territory has to account for both terrorism and the legitimate disputes surrounding Israeli policy rather than erasing either side of the reality.

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