JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the leaders of France, Britain and Canada of wanting to help the Palestinian militant group Hamas after they threatened to take “concrete action” if Israel did not stop its latest offensive in Gaza.
The criticism, echoing similar remarks from Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Thursday, was part of a fightback by the Israeli government against the increasingly heavy international pressure on it over the war in Gaza.
“You’re on the wrong side of humanity and you’re on the wrong side of history,” Netanyahu said, accusing the three countries of supporting “mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers” in reference to the Oct 2023 attacks on Israel.
As the flow of images of destruction and hunger in Gaza has continued, fuelling protests in countries across the world, Israel has struggled to turn world opinion, which has increasingly shifted against it despite the Hamas attacks.
Israeli officials have been particularly concerned about growing calls for European countries including France to follow others such as Spain and Ireland in recognizing a Palestinian state, as part of a two-state solution to resolve decades of conflict in the region.
Netanyahu argues a Palestinian state would threaten Israel and framed the killing of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington on Tuesday by a man who allegedly shouted “Free Palestine” as a clear example of that threat.
He said “exactly the same chant” was heard during the attack on Israel by Hamas on Oct 7, 2023.
“They don’t want a Palestinian state. They want to destroy the Jewish state,” he said in a statement on the social media platform X.
“I could never understand how this simple truth evades the leaders of France, Britain, Canada and others,” he said, adding that any moves by Western countries to recognize a Palestinian state would “reward these murderers with the ultimate prize.”
The Israeli leader, whose government depends on far-right support, said Hamas had thanked French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Canada’s Mark Carney over what he said was their demand for an immediate end to the war.
The leaders’ statement on Monday did not demand an immediate end to the war, but a halt to Israel’s new military offensive on Gaza and a lifting of its restrictions on humanitarian aid.
Hamas did issue a statement welcoming the move but Netanyahu gave no evidence of any direct contact with the three countries, which all describe the group as a terrorist organisation which should not have any role in running Gaza after the war.
“By issuing their demand – replete with a threat of sanctions against Israel, against Israel, not Hamas – these three leaders effectively said they want Hamas to remain in power,” Netanyahu said.
“And they give them hope to establish a second Palestinian state from which Hamas will again seek to destroy the Jewish state.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said France was “unwaveringly committed to Israel’s security”.
He said it was determined to combat antisemitism and that it was “absurd and slanderous” to accuse supporters of a two-state solution of encouraging antisemitism or Hamas.
Asked about Netanyahu’s remarks, Britain’s armed forces minister Luke Pollard said London stood with Israel in their right to self defence, “but that self defence must be conducted within the bounds of international humanitarian law.”
“At this moment, we stand fast against terrorism, but we also want to make sure that the aid is getting into Gaza,” he told Times Radio.
(Reporting by James Mackenzie; additional reporting by Richard Lough in Paris and William James in London; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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