Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday hit out at Norway, Spain and Ireland for their decisions to recognise a Palestinian state amid the Gaza war and said it was akin to giving out a "reward for terrorism".
Calling Palestine a "terrorist state", Netanyahu cited a poll and said that 80 per cent of Palestinians in the West Bank supported the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 last year that triggered the war in Gaza.
Netanyahu said that recognising Palestine as a state would prompt Hamas to repeat its October 7 attack on Israel.
"The intention of several European countries to recognise a Palestinian state is a reward for terrorism. 80 per cent of the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria support the terrible massacre of October 7. This evil cannot be given a state. 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. Rewarding terrorism will not bring peace and neither will it stop us from defeating Hamas," he tweeted on Wednesday night.
Israel's far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich urged Netanyahu to impose "harsh punitive measures" against the Palestinian authority over its "unilateral actions" against the Jewish state, including cutting off Ramallah financially, The Times of Israel reported.
"At the last cabinet meeting, many ministers, including myself, raised an unequivocal demand for harsh punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority for its unilateral actions against Israel, including its pursuit of unilateral recognition," Smotrich wrote to Netanyahu.
On the other hand, the US, which has expressed concerns over Israel's military action in Rafah and other parts of the Gaza Strip, rejected the decision by Norway, Spain and Ireland to recognise Palestine as a state. Washington, which has backed a two-state solution, said such a scenario should take place through negotiations.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan slammed Smotrich over his plans and warned that the West Bank would be destabilised due to a "wrong" strategic decision. He called for an uninterrupted flow of funds to the Palestinian territory.
"I think it’s wrong. I think it's wrong on a strategic basis because withholding funds destabilises the West Bank. It undermines the search for security and prosperity for the Palestinian people, which is in Israel’s interests," he said.
Like Israel, the US also summoned envoys of three countries for "severe reprimands", Sullivan said, adding that the ambassadors would be shown footage of five female Israeli soldiers being kidnapped on October 7. The footage was publicly released on Wednesday after their families gave the go-ahead.
