In a closed-door meeting, Netanyahu condemned the European Union for undermining Israel’s security needs.
On Wednesday, in a closed-door meeting with Central European leaders in Budapest, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the Middle Eastern policies of the European Union (EU) as destructive towards both Israel and the EU itself. Netanyahu’s remarks were unintentionally transmitted to media outside the meeting.
Netanyahu urged the leaders of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia to use their influence to support stronger bilateral ties with Israel and not allow politics to undermine technological cooperation.
“The European Union is the only association of countries in the world that conditions the relations with Israel, that produces technology in every area, on political conditions. The only ones! Nobody does it.”
Netanyahu stressed that strong relations with Israel is no less important for the European Union itself.
”Stop attacking Israel. Support it. Europe is disengaging itself from the world’s biggest innovation hub. There’s no sense [to that]. Europe is undermining its own security by undermining Israel.”
“It’s absolutely crazy,” he declared.
The historically conscious Israeli leader painted a bleak European future, unless EU’s policies change. “I think Europe has to decide if it wants to live and thrive or if it wants to shrivel and disappear,” he said.
Contrasting China and India with the EU, Netanyahu told the European leaders that the Asian giants do not let politics undermine their special relationship with the Jewish state.
In the leaked conversation, Netanyahu criticized former US President Barack Obama as well, stressing the improved US-Israeli relations under the Trump Administration.
”We had a big problem with the United States. It’s different now. There’s a renewed American presence in the region [Syria and the Middle East at large] and more bombings. That’s positive.”
Netanyahu was also candid concerning Israel’s policy towards the military threat emanating from Iran and its proxy Hezbollah.
‘I told Putin– if we see Iran by our border passing weapons to Hezbollah, we’ll take military action,”
With a reference to Israeli air strikes, the Israeli leader added: ”We’ve done this [in the past] a dozen times.”
By: Daniel Krygier, World Israel News