Israel recalled its ambassadors from Ireland, Spain, and Norway on Wednesday to protest the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state by those countries, warning it would not stand idly by while they reward terrorism.
“This would be a terrorist state. It will try to repeat the massacre of October 7 again and again; we will not consent to this,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
“This evil can not be given a state,” he added in a video message issued hours after his counterparts from those three nations issued coordinated messages in favor of a Palestinian statehood from their capitals, a recognition that will go into effect on May 28.
The European leaders argued that such a step was necessary, given the absence of a peace process and in light of the Palestinian suffering,seven into the Gaza war.
Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said, “Hamas is not the Palestinian people. Today’s decision to recognize Palestine is taken to help create a peaceful future.”
He clarified that recognition was a gesture to the Palestinian people, who had the right to self-determination. It was taken to support “a two-state solution,” which is the only way to stop “generational cycles of violence.”
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas thanked Harris for taking such a “courageous” step when the two spoke later in the day, explaining that he hoped it would inspire other countries to issue similar statements of recognition, according to the WAFA, the Palestine News Agency.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said the only possible political solution between Israelis and Palestinians was “two states living side by side in peace and security.”
Palestinian envoy to the UN Riyad Mansour said, “This European wave will hopefully be followed by other waves” that will allow for Palestine to be recognized as the 194th UN member state.
Britain, Australia, and EU members Malta and Slovenia have indicated in recent months that they could soon follow suit.
Ireland, Spain, and Norway’s action came on the 229th day of the Gaza war, a conflict that has stoked anti-Israel sentiments worldwide, even though the war was sparked by Hamas’s invasion of Israel on October 7. During that attack, Hamas and other terror groups killed over 1,200 people and seized another 252 hostages, of which 128 remain in captivity.
Netanyahu and his government had opposed Palestinian statehood before the war, but the October 7 attack only hardened that position. It has warned that much like Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 and has used it to launch attacks against Israel, so too would terrorists rule a Palestinian entity in the West Bank.
It has argued that the PA already supports terror and the destruction of Israel and can not, therefore, be a partner for peace.
'A message to the Palestinians and the world'
Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote on X during a visit to Paris that “Israel will not remain silent in the face of those undermining its sovereignty and endangering its security.”
“Today’s decision sends a message to the Palestinians and the world: Terrorism pays,” Katz wrote.
Israel fears that other Western countries could follow suit and that such steps help give Hamas a sense that international sympathy is with them, further complicating efforts to secure a hostage deal for the remaining 128 captives.
“This distorted step by these countries is an injustice to the memory of the victims of 7/10, a blow to efforts to return the 128 hostages, and a boost to Hamas and Iran’s jihadists, which undermines the chance for peace and questions Israel’s right to self-defense,” Katz wrote.
The Irish, Spanish, and Norwegian ambassadors have been summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Thursday for a severe reprimand, where they will be shown a video, published Wednesday of the moment five young Israeli women were taken captive from their army base in Nahal Oz.
They will be asked to “look into their eyes,” Katz wrote, explaining that he wanted to “the distorted decision their governments have made.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, (Religious Zionist Party) called on Netanyahu to authorize punitive measures against Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority, including withholding of tax fees and accelerating the approval of West Bank settlement construction, including in the contested E1 area of the Ma’aleh Adumim settlement.
To protest the announcements, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir made his first visit to the Aksa Mosque compound on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, which is known to Muslims as Al-Haram Al-Sharif.
Ben-Gvir stood with the Dome of the Rock in the background, stating, “We will not allow even a declaration of a Palestinian state.”
He stressed that the site, which is the holiest in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam, belongs “only to the State of Israel.”
The sharp Israeli disavowals of Palestinian statehood came as Israel was under pressure to accept a two-state resolution to its conflict with the Palestinians.
Western powers have in the post refrained from unilateral Palestinian statehood recognition believing that such a move should only come at the end of a two-state peace process.
The White House push for a Saudi deal has revived that dormant peace process, as the US has asked Israel to accept a pathway to two states.
In testimonies on Capitol Hill this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that he is not sure Israel can take the steps necessary to make a Saudi deal happen.
The issue of Israeli acceptance of Palestinian statehood has become more acute as the United States is close to completing the first pillar of the triad deal, which is a security pact
The White House on Wednesday stood firm in its rejection of unilateral Palestinian statehood, touting
President Joe Biden “has been on the record supporting a two-state solution,” US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters in Washington.
“He has been equally emphatic that a two-state solution should be brought about through direct negotiations through the parties, not through unilateral recognition,” Sullivan said.
“That’s a principal position that we have held consistently,” he said.
“We believe the only way that you are going to achieve a two-state solution that delivers for both Israelis and Palestinians, is through direct negotiations between the parties. That’s what we’ve been focused on,” Sullivan said
He alluded to the White House’s efforts to finalize a normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel, as he explained that the two states were also part of a regional strategy to integrate Israel into the region.
When pressed by a reporter, he said, he was concerned by Israel’s growing isolation on the international stage.
“As a country that stands strong in defense of Israel in international forums like the United Nations, we certainly have seen a growing chorus of voices including voices that had previously been in support of Israel drift in another direction,” Sullivan said, adding “that this is of concern to us.
“We do not believe that that contributes to Israel’s long-term security or vitality. And so that’s something that we discussed with the Israeli government,” he said.
It is for this reason, Sullivan said, that the US had urged Israel to take a more diplomatically strategic approach to defeating Hamas and providing humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza.
Reuters contributed to this report.