French foreign minister accuses Israeli government of ‘criminal and shameful’ tolerance of settler violence

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on Sunday accused the Israeli government of displaying what he called “criminal and shameful” tolerance toward violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Speaking during a joint program broadcast by France Inter and France 2, Barrot pointed to the seizure of Palestinian land and a sharp increase in violence and intimidation by extremist settlers.

“Violence perpetrated by Israeli extremists there against Palestinians has risen to unprecedented levels,” Barrot said, adding that there was “a criminal and shameful tolerance on the part of the Israeli government regarding what is happening in the West Bank.”

Barrot argued that the Israeli government’s approach violated international law and was also damaging to Israel’s own security.

His remarks came as he defended French President Emmanuel Macron following Israeli criticism of comments Macron made during his address to the UN General Assembly concerning Hamas and the situation in the West Bank.

Barrot urged critics not to take Macron’s remarks out of context, saying the president’s broader argument concerned the distinction between fighting Hamas and Israeli policies toward Palestinians in the West Bank.

“The president says that fighting Hamas and seeking to eliminate it from Palestine’s future cannot justify this policy of tolerance in the West Bank,” Barrot said. “And he is right about that.”

Pressed by the interviewer on whether Hamas operates in the West Bank, Barrot declined to give a direct yes-or-no answer. Instead, he said Macron’s argument was that Israeli government policy was “not weakening Hamas — neither in Gaza nor in the West Bank.”