Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned France’s parliament Sunday against recognizing a Palestinian state in a vote on December 2.
“Do they have nothing better to do at a time of beheadings across the Middle East, including that of a French citizen?” he asked reporters in Jerusalem, referring to hiker Herve Gourdel who was executed by jihadists in Algeria in September.
“Recognition of a Palestinian state by France would be a grave mistake,” Netanyahu said, according to AFP.
“The State of Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people, the only state that we have, and the Palestinians demanding a state do not want to recognize the right to have a state for the Jewish people,” Netanyahu told members of Jews who immigrated from France.
Following Sweden’s official decision and symbolic votes in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain, the European Parliament is expected to vote on a draft resolution that wold recognize a Palestinian state.
The parliaments of France and Denmark are also slated to hold a similar vote in the next few days.
Proponents of the initiative were the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (SD) and the Unified European Left Party (GUE).
After Sweden decided to recognize the “State of Palestine,” its president declared that it was the only way to ending the conflict in a way that would benefit both parties.