Netanyahu blasts European hypocrisy on settlements Israeli ambassadors in several European Union countries summoned for official rebukes over recent announcement of construction tenders across the Green Line • Netanyahu: When did the EU call in Palestinian ambassadors about incitement? Shlomo Cesana, Efrat Forsher, Israel Hayom Staff and News Agencies Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses foreign journalists in Jerusalem on Thursday Israeli ambassadors in the United Kingdom, France and Italy were summoned by the governments of those countries over the past few days to be officially rebuked over the recent announcement of construction tenders for 1,400 new residential units across the Green Line. The German and Spanish government also expressed their opposition to the announcement. A Foreign Ministry official in Jerusalem said a number of other countries had also criticized the announcement, but not to the level of an official rebuke. On Friday, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman responded by ordering the ambassadors to Israel from Britain, France, Italy and Spain to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem to be rebuked for the one-sided policy of their countries. Lieberman instructed that the ambassadors be told that Israel is making great efforts to advance the peace talks with the Palestinians and that the public positions of their countries are unbalanced, harm the negotiations process, and completely ignore the reality on the ground. Speaking to foreign journalists in Jerusalem on Thursday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused European Union countries of hypocrisy on the settlement issue. Our ambassadors to the EU are now called in because of this, the construction of a few houses, Netanyahu said. When did the EU call in the Palestinian ambassadors to complain about the incitement that calls for Israel’s destruction? When did the Palestinian get called in to hear complaints about the fact that security officers in the Palestinian security forces are participating in terrorist attacks against innocent Israelis. I think it’s time to stop this hypocrisy, Netanyahu said. I think it’s time to inject some balance and fairness into this discussion. Because I think this imbalance and this bias against Israel doesn’t advance peace. I think it pushes peace further away. Because it tells the Palestinians: You can basically do anything you want, say anything you want, incite any way you want, and you won’t be held accountable. And Israel that takes tremendous efforts to preserve the peace and fight terrorism for the benefit of both Israel and Palestinians alike, it always gets criticized. That’s not good and doesn’t advance peace.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Jan 2014 06:42:32 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015