Netanyahu slams Belgium PM as 'weak' after move to recognise Palestinian state
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called his Belgian counterpart a "weak leader" on Wednesday (Sep 3), slamming his decision to recognise Palestine as a state.
"Belgian Prime Minister (Bart) de Wever is a weak leader who seeks to appease Islamic terrorism by sacrificing Israel. He wants to feed the terrorist crocodile before it devours Belgium," Netanyahu's office said in a post on its official X account.
Belgium on Tuesday became the latest Western country to say it will recognise the State of Palestine at the UN General Assembly this month, following similar announcements by Australia, Canada and France.
In a post on X, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said that the decision came "in view of the humanitarian tragedy" unfolding in Gaza, adding that "firm sanctions are being imposed against the Israeli government".
Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Wednesday for the annexation of swathes of the occupied West Bank following the international moves to recognise a Palestinian state.
Despite mounting pressure at home and abroad to end its nearly two-year campaign in Gaza, Israel has recently been stepping up operations as it lays the groundwork for seizing Gaza City, where the UN has declared a famine.
The war was sparked by Hamas's Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 63,746 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.
