Netanyahu tells EU to stop 'spoiling' the Palestinians

Unlike the EU, Netanyahu said, US President Donald Trump told the Palestinian people the truth when he recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

By HERB KEINON
Updated: DECEMBER 11, 2017 16:39
PM Benjamin Netanyahu and EU foreign policy chief Mogherini brief the media in Brussels (photo credit: AVI OHAYON - GPO)
PM Benjamin Netanyahu and EU foreign policy chief Mogherini brief the media in Brussels
(photo credit: AVI OHAYON - GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the EU ministers he met in Brussels Monday that they needed to stop “spoiling” the Palestinians.
PM Netanyahu"s remarks at his meeting with EU Foreign Ministers (YouTube/IsraeliPM)
Unlike the EU, Netanyahu said, US President Donald Trump told the Palestinian people the truth when he recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
In a conversation with reporters on his plane before taking off from Brussels after meeting almost all of the EU foreign ministers, Netanyahu said settlements were not the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. To the Palestinians, he argued, even parts of sovereign Israel, such as Jaffa, are "settlements."
The prime minister also accused the EU of hypocrisy. The federation constantly nags Netanyahu on the question of settlements, but how often does it raise with the Palestinians the question of their failure to recognize Israel as a Jewish state? Netanyahu asked.
At Press conference with Mogherini, Netanyahu predicts Europeans following Trump on Jerusalem embassy move (Reuters)
When the ministers inquired about whether Israel was willing to take steps to improve the life of the Palestinians, Netanyahu responded that this was already being done in the fields of infrastructure development and the granting of job permits.
When's they asked Netanyahu whether he would accept a two state solution, he replied with another question. Would it be a stable or failed state?
According to the prime minister, the discussion did not only focus on the Palestinians, but also on Iranian designs in the regions. He said he told his interlocutors that the Islamic Republic's hegemonic designs in the region will have ramifications for them as well.
He said Iranian efforts to transplant tens of thousands of Shia forces to Syria is not only bad for Israel, but something that will lead to negative reactions in the region “and the renewal of a religion war that will lead to a flow of people to Europe.”
Earlier in the day, at a photo op with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, Netanyahu said Israel was a force for stability in the Middle East, and as a result, was acting as a bulwark against forces that threaten other states in the region, forces that have led to a massive migration of refugees to Europe.