Netanyahu Defends Gaza Policy In Meeting With UK’s May
Written by TPS on June 06, 2018
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu again brought up Iran’s nuclear program and its military entrenchment in Syria as he met with Theresa May in London on the third day of a European tour Wednesday, but found himself at odds with his his British counterpart on the nuclear issue as well as events in Gaza.
May told Netanyahu that she is “concerned about the loss of Palestinian lives” and that while she “absolutely recognizes” Israel’s right to self defense,
The British prime minister said the UK “absolutely recognises” Israel’s right to self-defence “extremists and terrorists,” but added that “with 100 Palestinian lives lost and a deteriorating situation in Gaza I hope we can talk about how we can alleviate that situation and how we can ensure that we can get back to a position where we are able to find a way through to talk about a two-state solution.”
In public statements before a face to face meeting between the two leaders, Netanyahu countered that Israel was not facing a non-violent protest, but quite the contrary.
“We are doing everything we can to both minimize casualties, and at the same time protect Israeli lives,” Netanyahu said. “We’re not witnessing peaceful protests. In addition to burning our fields, these people are being paid for and pushed by Hamas to try to break into Israel’s defenses, kill as many Israelis as they can, right next to our border, and kidnap our soldiers.”
As in his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron earlier in the week, Netanyahu put the spotlight on the Iranian issue.
“Today I wish to focus on two issues, two goals that we share,” he said. “The first is how to make sure that Iran does not have nuclear weapons. And the second is how to roll back Iran’s aggression in the region, and specifically in Syria. And I think we can find ways to work together to achieve both goals.”
However, Netanyahu found himself once again at odd with May on Tehran’s nuclear program with the British leader telling him that “along with France and Germany the UK continues to believe that [the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] is the best route to preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
“We will remain committed to it as long as Iran meets its obligations,” she added.
However, the two did agree on Iran’s regional aggression as May said: We do recognize that there are other issues that need to be addressed in relation to Iran – its destabilizing regional activity in countries like Syria and Yemen and also the proliferation of ballistic missiles.”
