France accuses Israel of tolerating violence in West Bank

France on Sunday accused Israel‘s government of tolerating violence against Palestinians and the continued seizure of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said there has been an unprecedented increase in violence by extremist Israelis against Palestinians in the territory.

“There is a guilty and scandalous level of tolerance on the part of the Israeli government towards what is happening in the West Bank,” Barrot told France Inter radio and France 2 television.

His comments followed similar remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron at last week’s UN General Assembly in New York.

Macron said violations are taking place every day in the West Bank and questioned what they are being carried out in the name of. He also said Palestinian resistance group Hamas has never operated in the West Bank.

The comments drew criticism from Israeli officials.

A statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Macron’s remarks, branding them an “arrogant absurdity.”

It also alleged that Hamas members had targeted Israeli civilians in the West Bank.

Barrot defended the French president, saying his comments should not be taken out of context.

“The president’s argument is clear: the Israeli government’s policy is not weakening Hamas, neither in Gaza nor in the West Bank,” he said.

Asked repeatedly whether Hamas operates in the West Bank, Barrot did not answer directly with either “yes” or “no.”

He said France’s position differed from that of the Israeli government and argued that efforts to weaken Hamas cannot justify what he described as a policy of tolerance towards events in the West Bank.

Barrot also said Russia’s hostile actions towards European countries, including France, had increased since the beginning of the war in Ukraine in 2022.

He said such actions include disinformation, cyber campaigns, and sabotage, warning that the possibility of a Russian drone attacking a French airport or nuclear power plant was “one of the possibilities.”

He added that France has been preparing for such possibilities for a long time.

ANEWS wp:paragraph