Lost in translation: Israel, Huckabee blast Macron over Hamas comments as France clarifies wording

By Charles Creitz, Efrat Lachter

Published September 23, 2026

President Donald Trump offered a roaring counterbalance to a spate of world leaders bashing Israel or appearing to equivocate between the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks and Jerusalem’s response — as one world leader was assailed for his comments on Hamas.

Gaza dominated the opening day of the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, despite a ceasefire, as world leaders accused Israel of continuing to displace Palestinians and undermine prospects for peace. 

French President Emmanuel Macron accused Israel of violating Palestinian rights in the West Bank, questioning the justification for its actions and making a remark that was translated as "Hamas was never active in the West Bank."

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Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon challenged his claim about Hamas’ presence in the West Bank. "French President Emmanuel Macron claimed from the UN podium that Hamas has ‘never been active’ in Judea and Samaria. Just two days ago, a French citizen was murdered there," Danon wrote on X. "Mr. President, Emmanuel Macron, do your homework before lecturing Israel. Check the facts."

Asked by Fox News Digital to clarify Macron’s remarks, a French Foreign Ministry spokesperson said: "The president meant to say that Hamas does not govern the West Bank. His remarks should therefore not be misinterpreted."

In response to the comments, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee reposted Israel's Minister of Diaspora and Combating Antisemitism. Huckabee stated, "Hard to imagine a more out of touch with reality speech than Macron at UN. @AmichaiChikli corrects the record. Hamas is an evil scourge, and they have killed innocent American citizens.

Chickli's post noted in part that, "Since 1990, Hamas has carried out more than 80 lethal terrorist attacks originating in or directed from Judea and Samaria, murdering more than 350 Israeli civilians." Judea and Samaria is another term used for the West Bank.

Macron also accused Israel of violating Palestinian rights in the West Bank and undermining the sovereignty of neighboring Lebanon, where he said villages in the south were being "razed." Macron questioned the credibility of the international community’s recognition of Palestinian statehood if it failed to act on the situation in Gaza. "Some claim that peace has been achieved," he said, calling the situation "shameful."

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, in his final address to the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) as secretary-general, opened fire on Israel’s response in Gaza, describing it as "a scale of killing and destruction unlike anything I have witnessed in all my years as Secretary-General."

"Amid the turmoil engulfing the region, we must not lose sight of the devastating situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory," he said, as the world approaches three years since the Hamas terror attacks that sparked the Israeli military response he spent much of his speech criticizing.

At the same time, Guterres lamented the ongoing conflict in Sudan, saying the war-torn East African nation is a place the "world looks away" from wrongly.

Yet his decision to single out Gaza as "the worst" devastation he had witnessed during his tenure raised questions about the international community's uneven attention to two of the world's deadliest conflicts. Approximately 72,000 Palestinians have been reported killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, compared with an estimated 150,000 people killed in Sudan's civil war. Many of those killed in Gaza include terrorists.

King Abdullah II of Jordan, a regional U.S. ally whose country signed a peace agreement with Israel in 1994, doubled down on the anti-Israel tenor, accusing Jerusalem of "war crimes."

"In my region, from Lebanon to Yemen, to Sudan, protracted conflict is deepening humanitarian suffering," Abdullah said. "And if anyone had any doubt that a crisis in our part of the world stays there, just look at the energy and grocery bills of ordinary families, from Mumbai to Madrid to Minnesota."

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Abdullah said Jordanian field hospitals had been targeted during the first 300 days of the "so-called ceasefire" and lamented the deaths of Palestinian children.

He also praised Trump for "pushing hard for peace" while pivoting to fault Israel for "moving the goalposts" and allegedly destroying civilian infrastructure in Gaza.

"The question is, is this the behavior of a democratic state governed by law? What is unfolding across the West Bank is not a series of isolated acts. It is elements of a single policy to compel an entire population to leave their land," Abdullah said.

"And there is a name for that: forced displacement. And that is a war crime."

Abdullah also accused Israel of harboring territorial ambitions in Syria, calling on the international community to act.

Just before Abdullah, President Donald Trump offered a scathing counterweight to the invective directed at the Netanyahu administration and Israel’s response to Palestinian terrorism.

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"Iran will never have a nuclear weapon" was a mantra repeated by Trump from the dais, as he noted that the Khamenei regime had also celebrated Oct. 7 as a "service to humanity" while murdering thousands of Iranian citizens in recent months, according to the president.

"Just imagine such a vile regime, wherever empowered to carry out large-scale terror attacks from behind a nuclear shield. This was the reality we had to confront, the reality that far too many preferred to ignore," he said, taking occasional swipes at nations — and previous U.S. leaders — who refused to help neutralize the Iranian threat.

"Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?" he asked. "But I believe we’ll make a deal right after the election," he added, suggesting Iran is waiting to see whether Republicans retain control of Congress while noting that he himself is not on the ballot.

Meanwhile, criticism of Israel continued from the dais throughout the day.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said that former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat were "statesmen" who sought solutions with courage and clarity.

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"They were defeated by hatred," Lula da Silva claimed, according to the U.N.’s transcript of his remarks.

"Generations of Palestinians will carry the pain and trauma left by the genocide of women and children perpetrated by Netanyahu[‘s] government in Gaza," he said.

Danon told Fox News Digital that, "Unfortunately, it’s not new, but the U.N. is obsessed with Israel."

"Instead of focusing and dealing with the real issues, they all gather and gang against Israel," he said. "[It is] the weakness of the secretary general. That is why we are grateful for President Trump, who came to the U.N., delivered a very powerful speech with moral clarity, but we are used to it… Unfortunately, instead of taking practical actions to improve the world, it's much easier to blame Israel about everything," he said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, called Gaza "the world's biggest graveyard for children" and compared the situation there to Holocaust-era concentration camps, continuing his history of comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.

Danon said it is legitimate to criticize Israel and that its leaders welcome debate — but that the U.N. instead delved into "pure hate [and] incitement," singling out Erdoğan, who is supposed to be a Western ally.

"[He] comes here every year, compares the Israelis to the Nazis. That's shameful. That's shameful. And he shows that he's an antisemite. He doesn't really care about the Palestinians. He just wants to sow chaos and instigate against the Jewish people."

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As for King Abdullah's remarks, Danon said, "He should know better. We work with Jordan, we support Jordan, we defended Jordan in the past. But unfortunately, many leaders, when they come here, they don't speak about the cooperation with Israel, the economical or security cooperation. They join the group and they always criticize us."

Fox News Digital's Hannah Brennan contributed to this report.

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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/lost-translation-israel-huckabee-blast-macron-over-hamas-comments-france-clarifies-wording

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