Israeli PM Slams EU for Imposing Conditions for Closer Integration

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday harshly criticized Brussels for considering peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians as a precondition for the rapprochement between the country and the bloc.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Netanyahu’s speech was during a meeting behind closed doors in Budapest with his counterparts from Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland. Unbeknownst to him was the fact that the transmission of his speech was received in the headphones distributed among the journalists covering the event.

"The European Union is the only association of countries in the world that conditions the relations with Israel, that produces technology and every area, on political conditions. The only ones! Nobody does it. It is crazy. It is actually crazy. It is not about my interest. I am talking about Europe’s interest," Netanyahu said, as quoted by the Haaretz newspaper.

Netanyahu noted that the European Union was undermining its security and technological progress by attempting to impose conditions on Israel.

The relations between Israel and the European Union are underlined by the bilateral Association Agreement of 1995. Though Israel seeks full integration with the bloc, Brussels opposes the Israeli settlement of the West Bank and considers the territory the domain of the Palestinians.