Netanyahu: EU will "Shrivel and Disappear" If No Change in Attitude Toward Israel

• 07.20.2017, 10:43
•  Europe,  Near East,  World

Reuters

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has launched a withering attack on the European Union at a closed-door meeting of eastern European leaders in Budapest, saying the political grouping would wither and die if it did not change its policy towards Israel, The Guardian reports.

"The European Union is the only association of countries in the world that conditions the relations with Israel, which produces technology in every area, on political conditions. The only ones! Nobody does it," Netanyahu said before officials realised the meeting was being overheard by reporters and cut the feed.

The remarks, caught on an open microphone, underlined Netanyahu’s often barely disguised contempt for the European political union, which has criticised Israel – and his government in particular – over issues including Jewish settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories and the peace process.