Threatened With Sanctions, Israeli PM Accuses French Leader, UK, Canada Wants To Help Hamas

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu/screenshot via Instagram @b.netanyahu

JAKARTA - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused French, British and Canadian leaders of wanting to help Palestinian militant groups Hamas after they threatened to take "concrete action" if Israel did not stop its latest attack on Gaza.

Criticism emphasizing a similar statement from Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Thursday, May 22, was part of the Israeli government's resistance to increasingly severe international pressure against him over the war in Gaza.

"You are on the wrong side of humanity and you are on the wrong side of history," Netanyahu said.

As images of destruction and hunger continue to flow in Gaza, sparking protests in various countries around the world, Israel struggles to change the world's opinion, which is increasingly against it.

"It's hard to convince at least some people, especially in the far left of the US and in some countries in Europe, that what Israel is doing is a defense war," said former Israeli diplomat Yaki Dayan.

"However, that is the perception in Israel and bridging this gap is sometimes an impossible mission," he said.

Israeli officials are particularly concerned about the increasing call for European countries including France to follow other countries such as Spain and Ireland in recognizing the Palestinian state, as part of a two-state solution to resolve the decades-long conflict in the region.

Netanyahu believes the Palestinian state will threaten Israel and frame the assassination of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington on Tuesday by a man suspected of chanting "Free Palestine" as a concrete example of the threat.

Netanyahu said "the exact same song" was heard during the attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023. "They don't want a Palestinian state. They want to destroy a Jewish country," he said in a statement on social media platform X.

"I can never understand how this simple truth escaped the attention of French, British, Canadian leaders and other countries," said Israeli PM.

Netanyahu said every step taken by Western countries to recognize the Palestinian state would "give these killers the greatest rewards."