Slovenia today banned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from entering its territory, following a July decision to bar two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers, according to a government announcement.
Slovenia, an EU member state, recognized a Palestinian state last year, imposed an arms embargo on Israel in August, and banned the import of goods produced in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.
A majority of European countries now recognize the State of Palestine, following official announcements made on Monday at the UN by France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Malta, after nearly two years of war in Gaza.
According to AFP, at least 151 of the 193 UN member states already recognize Palestine.
Netanyahu: I will denounce those who want to give a state to murderers
Benjamin Netanyahu today criticized leaders who recently recognized a Palestinian state before departing for the United States, where he is set to address the UN General Assembly on Friday and meet with President Donald Trump.
“At the General Assembly, I will speak our truth – the truth of Israel’s citizens, the truth of our soldiers, the truth of our nation,” he said at Ben Gurion Airport before departing, according to a statement from his office.
“I will denounce those leaders who, instead of condemning the murderers, the rapists, those who burned children, want to give them a state in the heart of the Land of Israel,” the prime minister added. Netanyahu is the subject of a November 2024 arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
He reiterated that the creation of a Palestinian state “is not going to happen.”
On Wednesday, Netanyahu had said that the recent wave of recognitions of Palestine, including by France and the United Kingdom, “in no way binds Israel” and described the decisions as “a disgraceful capitulation by certain leaders to Palestinian terrorism.”
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