The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned today the “unjustified attack and offensive remarks“ of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Emmanuel Macron regarding France's possible recognition of the State of Palestine, Agence France-Presse reported, BTA reported.
Netanyahu said yesterday that the French president was making a “serious mistake“ by promoting the idea of a Palestinian state, and pointed out that France cannot be the moral judge of Israel.
In its statement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry “strongly condemned the unjustified attack and insulting remarks made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his son against French President Emmanuel Macron“.
The ministry said it viewed “these statements as a clear recognition of Netanyahu's continued hostility to peace based on the two-state solution, as well as his clear rejection of international efforts and his continued preference for violence and military solutions over political path“.
In an interview broadcast last Wednesday, Macron said that France could recognize a Palestinian state in June at a conference that he will co-chair with Saudi Arabia at the United Nations in New York, placing such a gesture within the framework of reciprocal efforts for recognition of Israel by Arab states.
“President Macron is making a serious mistake by continuing to promote the idea of a Palestinian state in the heart of our land - a state whose sole aspiration is the destruction of Israel“, Netanyahu reacted yesterday and criticized, in his words, “illusions divorced from reality“.
“We will not accept moral lessons about the creation of a Palestinian state that would threaten the existence of Israel, from those who oppose the independence of Corsica, New Caledonia, French Guiana and other territories whose independence would in no way threaten France“, he added.
His son Yair Netanyahu was even more extreme, writing on the social network “Ex“: “Go to hell!“ in Macron's address. Benjamin Netanyahu, however, condemned his son's statement, calling his tone “unacceptable“.
Relations between Israel and France have soured significantly in recent months, AFP reports.