Shortly after returning from a meeting in Amman with Jordanian King Abdullah, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu lashed out at the EU Thursday, accusing them of “hypocrisy” in condemning settlement construction, but not the Palestinians for incitement or continued terrorism.
Netanyahu’s anger was sparked by an apparently coordinated EU move to summon Israel’s ambassadors in London, Paris, Rome and Madrid this week to protest the recent announcement of construction of 1,400 units in the major settlement blocks and in east Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the 1967 lines.
Calling the claim that settlements are an obstacle to a peace agreement “bogus,” Netanyahu, speaking at an annual reception in Jerusalem for foreign journalists, blasted the EU move, and asked when the last time the EU countries called in the Palestinian Authority ambassadors to “complain about incitement to Israel’s destruction,” or to protest that security officers from the Palestinian Authority were participating in terror attacks against innocent Israelis.
“I think its time stop the hypocrisy and inject some fairness in the discussion,” he said, adding that the EU imbalance does not promote peace, but actually pushes it further away because it tells the Palestinians that they can engage in incitement and terror and not be held accountable.”
The prime minister, who took only three question on topics he was informed about in advance, stressed that the settlement announcements did not breach any commitment that Israel took upon itself when it entered the talks with the Palestinians last July.
It was clear to both the Americans and the Palestinians that Israel undertook no restraints on construction, Netanyahu said. He said this was an unspoken, unwritten part of the deal that was very clear to everyone.
Netanyhau said that “adding a few houses “ will not change the map “an iota,” and asked if the Palestinians were looking to create an “ethnically cleansed state.”