Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday poured scorn on plans by some European countries to recognize the state of Palestine.
France and the United Kingdom, along with Canada, announced in recent weeks plans to formally recognize Palestine, while Norway, Spain and Ireland formally recognized Palestine in 2024.
Netanyahu dismissed the idea as a “canard” during a press conference in which he doubled down on his controversial plan to take over the whole of Gaza.
“Today, most of the Jewish public is against the Palestinian state for the simple reason that they know it won’t bring peace, it will bring war,” he said.
“To have European countries and Australia march into that rabbit hole … is disappointing, and I think it’s actually shameful,” Netanyahu said. “But it’s not going to take, it’s not going to change our position. We will not commit national suicide to get a good op-ed for two minutes. We won’t do that.”
While there is a debate in Australia around recognizing Palestine, the country has not yet announced a solid intention to do so.
The most recent recognition plan, spearheaded by French President Emmanuel Macron, comes amid the Israeli military campaign in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of people, and ongoing violence and land grabs by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
France and the U.K. would be the first G7 nations to recognize Palestine. The U.S. is critical of the plans, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying France’s foray into the matter ended ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas.
Referring to the Palestinians, Netanyahu said: “If they want to live here next to us they have to stop seeking our destruction, and to give them an independent state with all the trimmings is to invite a future war and a certain war. That is something that today the Israeli public forcefully opposes.”
The international community has become increasingly critical of Netanyahu’s campaign in Gaza, with starvation now rife in the occupied territory as Israel heavily restricts food and medical supplies from entering.
Teresa Ribera, the European Commission’s second-most-senior official, said last week that the starvation, displacement and killing in Gaza “looks very much” like genocide.
Numerous countries in Eastern Europe, plus Sweden, already recognized Palestine before the onset of the current war in 2023, which began after a surprise attack by the militant group Hamas in which more than 1,000 people were killed. The group also took hostages, some of whom remain captive in Gaza.
This article has been updated.
The post Netanyahu rebuffs ‘shameful’ European plans to recognize Palestinian state appeared first on Politico.
