Netanyahu Slams Macron for Calling Abbas ‘Prince of Peace’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sharply criticized French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday for embracing Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas as a “prince of peace,” following the two leaders’ meeting in Paris.

“To bring in such a person, embrace him and say you’re the prince of peace is the opposite of reality it’s false,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Australian journalist Erin Molan. “You cannot build peace on falsehoods. Sooner or later, these falsehoods crash on the rocks of Middle East reality.”

Netanyahu pulled no punches in describing Abbas’s true legacy. “The reality is that the Palestinian leader Abbas, who was feted right now in Paris, pays terrorists to kill Jews,” he said. “The more Jews they kill, the more they get paid. They take care of their families.”

The Palestinian Authority’s controversial “pay-for-slay” policy, rebranded in recent years as “welfare support,” continues to reward convicted terrorists and their families with monthly stipends. Abbas has publicly vowed not to reduce these payments by “a single penny.”

Netanyahu also pointed out that despite being 21 years into what began as a four-year term, Abbas continues to glorify terrorism by naming public spaces after mass murderers and promoting school textbooks that deny Israel’s right to exist. “This is not peace,” Netanyahu said. “This is incitement.”

His message to Macron was clear: “Learn the facts, stick to the facts, stick to realities and don’t try to escape it.”

Netanyahu emphasized that the true force for peace and stability in the region is not the Palestinian Authority but Israel. “When you look at the facts, the force for peace, the force for stability, the force for progress, is not the Palestinian Authority, but Israel,” he said.

Abbas’s visit to Paris marked his first since Macron recognized Palestinian statehood two months ago. Speaking at the Élysée Palace, Macron doubled down on that decision, pledging French support for “the establishment of a Palestinian state” and lauding Abbas as a consistent opponent of terrorism.

But Abbas’s public record tells a different story. While Macron claimed Abbas “consistently condemned violence,” the P.A. chief has yet to unequivocally denounce the October 7 massacre the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust in Arabic. Abbas’s past statements, including those drawn from his doctoral dissertation in the 1980s, have included Holocaust denial and repeated antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories.

The dangerous attempt to sanitize Abbas’s legacy not only distorts reality but undermines genuine peace efforts in the region. While France hails a man whose actions and words repeatedly embolden terror, Israel remains on the front lines defending both its citizens and the truth.

Help expose the facts the world needs to hear. Share this article and subscribe to our newsletter for more updates that stand for Israel and peace through truth.