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Netanyahu attack on EU policy towards Israel caught on microphone
Israeli PM overheard saying bloc would wither and die unless it changed attitude towards his country at meeting of eastern European leaders.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has launched a withering attack on the European Union at a closed-door meeting of eastern European leaders in Budapest, saying the political grouping would wither and die if it did not change its policy towards Israel.
The remarks, caught on an open microphone, underlined Netanyahu’s often barely disguised contempt for the European political union, which has criticised Israel – and his government in particular – over issues including Jewish settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories and the peace process.
Netanyahu also made a rare public admission that Israel has struck Iranian arms convoys in Syria bound for Hezbollah “dozens and dozens of times”.
The overheard remarks were reported by Israeli journalists covering the trip.
The bombastic remarks, which bizarrely predicated Europe’s future on its attitude towards Israel – not one of the most burning issues on an EU agenda confronting the challenges of immigration, Brexit and economic growth – were made in a meeting with the leaders of Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Poland, whom Netanyahu urged to close their doors to refugees from Africa and the Middle East.
“I think Europe has to decide if it wants to live and thrive or if it wants to shrivel and disappear,” he said. “I am not very politically correct. I know that’s a shock to some of you. It’s a joke. But the truth is the truth – both about Europe’s security and Europe’s economic future. Both of these concerns mandate a different policy toward Israel.”
“The European Union is the only association of countries in the world that conditions the relations with Israel, which produces technology in every area, on political conditions. The only ones! Nobody does it,” Netanyahu said before officials realised the meeting was being overheard by reporters and cut the feed.
“It’s crazy. It’s actually crazy,” he added, urging the leaders present to help push Europe to expedite the EU association agreement with Israel that has been held up because of current Israeli policies.
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