In an interview with Euronews, the Israeli Prime Minister stresses that Europe ”has basically caved in to Palestinian terrorism and radical Islamist minorities.”
‘’We don’t comment on comments,’’ said an EU Commission spokesperson in response to a question regarding an interview with Euronews in which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed Europe’s stance on Israel’s strategy in Gaza and the EU’s visible absence in the ceasefire plan process, presented under the leadership of US President Donald Trump.
In the interview, Netanyahu stated that Europe has been absent from a ceasefire plan between Israel and Hamas because it has “basically caved in to Palestinian terrorism and radical Islamist minorities.’’
He added, “That’s why Europe has essentially become irrelevant and displayed enormous weakness,” stressing that it was President Trump who took the leadership and initiative for the ceasefire deal.
“What should be done is exactly what President Trump is doing. He’s presenting a realistic peace plan that eliminates the terrorist elements, the elements that want to continue the war again and who vow to repeat the massacre of 7 October again,’’ the Israeli premier stated.
He slammed the decision of 15 out of 27 EU member states to recogniza a Palestinian state, calling it “an ultimate reward to Islamists”.
“They (Europe) basically said let’s just give them a Palestinian state which would be the ultimate reward for Hamas after doing the greatest massacre against the Jews since the Holocaust,” Netanyahu told Euronews.
He claimed that this decision caused “enormous damage” not just for Israel but for the whole of the Middle East.
“Imagine that after 9/11, people would say, okay, now let’s give state to (Islamist terrorist leader Osama) Bin Laden and al-Qaeda. Not only will we give them a state, it will be one mile from New York, which is what they’re suggesting,” Netanyahu told Euronews.
Netanyahu insisted this is not “going to promote peace”. “First you have the strength, then you have peace,” he explained.
He expressed the hope the European countries that recognised the state of Palestine will “rethink” this decision.
“We’d prefer to have not only good relations with Europe, but good relations with a realistic Europe, and one that would bring real peace as opposed to the repetition of horrible war,” Netanyahu said.
“I hope that Europe changes its direction. Some of it has, but some of it hasn’t,” Netanyahu said. “I hope the part that hasn’t rethinks, not only for our sake, but for Europe’s sake too.”
While not commenting Netanyahu’s statements, the EU spokesperson said that the EU ”has been one of the most active actors when it comes to Gaza but everybody agrees that we need to do more.’’ ‘’All our efforts go into increasing humanitarian support and ending the suffering.’’
The spokesperson also recalled that the EU is the leading supporter of the two-state solution. ‘’This is also why we are providing 1,6 billion euros over the next three years. And the EU is also engaging with regional partners.’’