The European Union slammed on Monday remarks made by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as "wrong and dangerous." "The comments of Mr.Smotrich go once again in the opposite direction and certainly cannot be tolerated.
I call on the Israeli government to disavow those comments and to start working with all parties to defuse tensions," EU High Representative Josep Borrell told a press conference in reply to a question by KUNA, on the issue at the end of EU Foreign Ministers meeting this evening.
"It is not the first time that we have to express our concern regarding the spiraling violence on the ground and we in the European Union have been advocating measures of de-escalation not inflammatory," he said.
Borrell noted that the latest meeting in Aqaba and Sharm El sheik goes in "the good direction, but I have to deplore this unacceptable comment by minister Smotrich." "It is wrong. It is disrespectful. It is dangerous. It is counterproductive to say these kind of things in a situation which is already very tense," he said.
He stressed that the EU will continue in its long-standing commitment to the two-state solution with an independent and sovereign state of Palestine living side by side with Israel in peace and security.
"And I am sorry if some don't like to listen to this kind of thing. But this is the position of the European Union. It is not the personal opinion of the High Representative. Maybe some don't say that so clearly and so loudly," said Borrell.
"And I repeat. It is wrong, it is disrespectful and is dangerous and counterproductive in a situation like this to say these kind of things," he said.
"Could you imagine if a Palestinian leader would have said Israel doesn't exist.
What would have been the reaction," he asked.
Last night, Bezalel Smotrich delivered a speech in Paris saying the notion of a Palestinian people was false. "There is no such thing as a Palestinian nation. There is no Palestinian history.
There is no Palestinian language," he claimed.
Source: Kuwait News Agency