Using the Holocaust to deflect criticism of Israel

Netanyahu links Nazi genocide to recognition of a Palestinian State

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Jerusalem

La Presse, Montreal, Friday 26 March 1999, page A9

Israel invoked the genocide of the Jews in Europe perpetrated by the Nazis as the basis for rejecting in advance, yesterday, any decision by the European Union leaning towards recognition of a Palestinian State.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu notably disputed the validity of whatever declaration that the leaders of the fifteen countries of the European Union, meeting at a summit in Berlin, might issue, which might call upon Israel to accept a Palestinian State.

“It is all the more regrettable that it is Europe, where one-third of the Jewish nation perished (during the Shoah), that now presumes to impose a solution that puts in peril the Jewish State and flies in the face of its own interests”, stated Mr. Netanyahu.

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Webmaster note: For Mr. Netanyahu to be consistent, he would also have to reject the Balfour Declaration, which many feel legitimized the formation of the State of Israel in the first place.