JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected remarks by US Secretary of State John Kerry warning of a growing boycott threat against the Jewish state if peace talks fail.
“Attempts to impose a boycott on the State of Israel are immoral and unjust. Moreover, they will not achieve their goal,” he said.
“Second, no pressure will cause me to concede the vital interests of the State of Israel, especially the security of Israel’s citizens. For both of these reasons, threats to boycott the State of Israel will not achieve their goal.”
Netanyahu’s remarks came a day after Kerry warned of the potential economic impact on Israel.
“For Israel, the stakes are also enormously high,” the US diplomat warned at a security conference in Munich. “For Israel there’s an increasing delegitimization campaign that has been building up. People are very sensitive to it. There are talk of boycotts and other kinds of things,” he said. The status quo could not be maintained if the talks were to collapse, he warned.
“It’s not sustainable. It’s illusionary. There’s a momentary prosperity, there’s a momentary peace ... But the fact is the status quo will change if there is failure.”
Some Israeli ministers directly addressed Kerry’s remarks.
“What Kerry said is offensive, unfair and intolerable,” Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz of Netanyahu’s Likud party told army radio ahead of the Cabinet meeting.
“You can’t expect Israel to negotiate with a gun at its head while it discusses issues critical to its diplomatic and security interests.”
And Economy Minister Naftali Bennett of the far-right Jewish Home party, which is part of the coalition but against territorial concessions to Palestinians, said: “There is no nation that would give its country up over economic threats, and neither will we.”
Netanyahu rejects Kerry’s warning
