Benjamin Netanyahu told EU leaders that Israel has saved ‘countless lives’ by preventing terror attacks in Europe and stopping the spread of militant Islam as he visited Brussels on Monday.
Netanyahu, who met with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in the first such visit by an Israeli premier for 22 years, also insisted that the Union will follow Donald Trump in recognising Jerusalem as the nation’s capital.
Speaking about Trump’s decision last week, he said: ‘It makes peace possible because recognising reality is the substance of peace, the foundation of peace.
‘There is now an effort an effort to bring forward a new peace proposal by the American administration. I think we should give peace a chance. I think we should see what is presented and see if we can advance this peace.’
Benjamin Netanyahu said he believes that European countries will follow Donald Trump in recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and will join the US in moving their embassies there
Netanyahu, who met in Brussels with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, also said that Israel has prevented terror attacks in Europe and stopped the spread of radical Islam by providing stability
Benjamin Netanyahu also met with Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Sunday, telling Palestinians afterward that the sooner they accept Jerusalem as the new capital of Israel ‘the sooner there will be peace’
Macron issued his own, much more measured, statement in which he condemned Hamas rocket attacks on Israel but also called for an end to Jewish settlement building in the West Bank
Protests across the Muslim world entered their fifth day on Monday. Here a Palestinian throws a rock at Israeli security forces near the city of Ramallah, on the West Bank
Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces continued in the West Bank on Thursday. Pictured here, a man kicks a flaming tyre at Israeli security near Ramallah
Palestinian paramedic volunteers carry away an injured protester during clashes near Ramallah on Monday
Israeli security forces observe Palestinian protesters near Ramallah amid violent clashes
Masked protesters throw rocks at Israeli security guards near the Jewish settlement of Beit El, in the West Bank
Protesters burn images of Donald Trump in Gaza City in fury at his decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel
Israeli security forces run toward Palestinian protesters as scenes turn violent in the West Bank on Monday
‘It’s time that the Palestinians recognise the Jewish state and also recognise the fact that it has a capital. It’s called Jerusalem,’ he said.
‘I believe that, even though we don’t have an agreement yet, this is what will happen in the future. I believe that all, or most, of the European countries will move their embassies to Jerusalem, recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and engage robustly with us for security, prosperity and peace.’
Mogherini reiterated that the bloc would continue to recognise the ‘international consensus’ on Jerusalem.
She repeated the Union’s commitment to a two-state solution and that it was in Israel’s interest to find a sustainable solution to its conflict with the Palestinians.
The EU, she said, would step up its peace efforts and would hold talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas next month.
She also condemned attacks on Israel and on Jews elsewhere in the world, including in Europe where a synagogue was firebombed in the Swedish city of Gothenburg at the weekend.
A demonstration condemning Netanyahu’s visit is planned for later in the morning in Brussels.
Netayahu’s comments came after a meeting with Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Sunday, in which he said the sooner Palestinians can accept Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, ‘the sooner there will be peace’.
Macron called for Netanyahu to show ‘courage’ in restarting the peace process and called for an end to Jewish settlement building in the West Bank.
In a concession to Netanyahu, he started the statement by condemning ‘all the attacks of the last few days’, including rockets launched by Hamas at the Jewish state.
Netanyahu had earlier said he planned to rebuke Macron for condemning Trump’s statement, but ignoring the attacks by Hamas.
The Jewish leader also hit out at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had earlier branded Israel a ‘terrorist country’ that ‘kills children’.
‘I am not used to receiving lectures about morality from a leader who bombs Kurdish villagers in his native Turkey, who jails journalists, who helps Iran get around international sanctions, and who helps terrorists, including in Gaza, kill innocent people,’ Netanyahu said. ‘That is not the man who is going to lecture us.’
Macron had taken a phone call from Erdogan, according to a source close to the Turkish leader, and agreed that Trump’s declaration had not been good for the region.
Erdogan also spoke to other regional leaders and vowed to do everything possible to reverse the declaration.
Armed members of the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamist organisation Palestinian Islamic Jihad, march in Gaza
The Al-Quds brigades took to the streets of Gaza City on Monday to protest against Donald Trump’s decision
Palestinian women wave national flags while chanting slogans during an anti-Trump march in Gaza City
Marchers holding a Palestinian flag walk through the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Monday
As Netanyahu spoke protesters in Indonesia took to the streets for a fifth straight day of demonstrations
Effigies of Donald Trump were burned in the street in anger at his decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital
An Indonesian protester holds the Palestinian national flag during a rally against Trump held in Jakarta on Monday
Earlier on Sunday, a 25-year-old Israeli security guard was left in critical condition after being stabbed at Jerusalem’s central bus station.
The guard was attacked with a kitchen knife by a 24-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank as he approached a metal detector who fled but was arrested after being tackled by a passerby.
Meanwhile demonstrators burned Israeli flags and clashed with police elsewhere in the West Bank, while Palestinian Christians also held a march denouncing Trump’s decision.
In Lebanon scenes outside the US embassy turned ugly as police were forced to use tear gas and water cannon to force back rioters who tried to storm the building.
Marchers in Jalalabad,Afghanistan, also burned effigies of Trump and thousands gathered on the streets of Jakarta, Indonesia, in a fourth straight day of anger.
Missiles were fired into Israel from Gaza on Friday night, provoking a response from Israeli fighter jets and tanks that left two members of Hamas dead.
The most serious disturbances came at Rachel’s Tomb near Hebron, in Tulkarm and on the outskirts of Bethlehem.
A Palestinian youth was critically injured when he was hit in the eye by a rubber bullet in Ramallah, local media reported. The Israeli police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, denied this, saying that protesters were ‘precisely injured in the lower part of the body’.
A 25-year-old Israeli security guard is in critical condition in hospital after being stabbed at Jerusalem’s central bus station
Police say they have arrested a 24-year-old man and are questioning him, but say his background and motivation are not clear
The attack happened as violent clashes continued across the West Bank and Gaza after Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city
Demonstrators attempted to break into the embassy in Lebanon before police managed to force them back
A burning Israeli flag is draped across barbed wire outside the US embassy in Aukar, east of Beirut, on Sunday
Protesters run from riot police after they used water cannon and tear gas outside the American embassy
Meanwhile, three Israelis were wounded as a bus travelling near Haifa in northern Israel came under attack by Arab youths hurling rocks.
The driver was injured by flying glass and evacuated to hospital while two passengers were treated at the scene, near the town of Arara. Police made two arrests.
Demonstrations were also held elsewhere in the country, including in Umm el-Fahm, Rehat, Tira and Tamra, but these were significantly smaller than those seen on Friday’s ‘day of rage’.
Nevertheless, the protests on Friday and the subsequent scuffles were less serious than had been expected, falling well short of the ‘new intifada’ demanded by Hamas.
It came after about 25,000 Israelis demanded that Mr Netanyahu resign by taking to the streets of Tel Aviv last night, chanting ‘mafia, mafia’, and ‘being a pig isn’t kosher’.
They were voicing concerns over claims that Mr Netanyahu received gifts from wealthy businessmen and made a deal with a newspaper for positive reporting, and that legislation was drafted to keep the allegations secret.
A similar protest in Haifa turned violent when a group of anarchists supporting the boycott of Israel joined the march.
The rallies followed a huge demonstration last week, when about 30,000 people spontaneously protested against corruption on Rothschild Boulevard, one of Tel Aviv’s most iconic streets, in one of the largest rallies in recent memory.
Naftali Bennett, the Right-wing leader of the Bait Yehudi party, made a bold pitch to become Israel’s next prime minister, saying he has ‘broad experience in business, economics, government and security and I plan to use all of it.’ He stopped short, however, of calling for early elections.
In a further sign of diplomatic backlash over the Trump announcement, a Palestinian Authority official confirmed that its president, Mahmoud Abbas, would pull out of a meeting with US vice president Mike Pence later this month.
A White House aide said that the meeting was still scheduled, however, adding that would be ‘counterproductive’ for Mr Abbas to cancel it.
Palestinian officials are understood to be lobbying the UN security council to pass a resolution demanding that the US withdraw its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Fourteen out of the 15 members of the Security Council condemned Mr Trump’s move in an emergency meeting in New York on Friday.
Yesterday, the Arab League demanded that the US change its stance on Jerusalem for fear that it would stoke further unrest across the region.
Israeli authorities demolish several graves in the historical Bab al-Rahmeh cemetery near a mosque
Israeli forces were seen at Bab al-Rahmeh cemetery in East Jerusalem on Sunday after Israeli authorities on Tuesday demolished several graves in occupied East Jerusalem’s historical Bab al-Rahmeh cemetery east of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
It is thought those destroyed were Muslim graves.
The cemetery has a long history of people destroying graves in political and religious protests.
Israeli forces are seen at Bab al-Rahmeh cemetery in East Jerusalem on December 10, 2017. Israeli authorities on Tuesday demolished several graves in occupied East Jerusalem’s historical Bab al-Rahmeh cemetery east of the Al-Aqsa Mosque
Two men in high-visibility vests can be see walking away from the Israeli forces at the historic cemetery in Jerusalem
Armed Israeli forces are seen patrolling the area where graves were said to have been demolished on Tuesday. It is thought they were Muslim graves
Two young Israeli soldiers smile at the camera as their colleagues patrol the hillside cemetery amid rising tensions in the country