Italy’s prime minister criticised European leaders who recognised a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly, saying their priorities were wrong and insisting that “the main political pressure should be directed towards Hamas,” not Israel.
“It is Hamas that started this war,” Giorgia Meloni told reporters, with a clear reference to the October 7th terror attack, “and it is Hamas that is preventing this war from ending by refusing to release the hostages.”
Italy will recognize a Palestinian state only if Israeli hostages are freed and Hamas is excluded from government, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said, adding her cabinet will present a motion to parliament on the issue https://t.co/2ia7fOP9xEpic.twitter.com/cI2E74etFZ
More than half of European Union member states have now recognised a Palestinian state. This puts much of Europe at odds with U.S. president Donald Trump, who said on Tuesday that the move is “a reward for Hamas’ horrible atrocities—while they refuse to release the hostages or accept a ceasefire.”
As if to prove the U.S. president’s point, graphic footage also emerged on social media this week of Hamas gunmen publicly executing three men accused of being Israeli collaborators in Gaza City in front of a cheering crowd.
Unlike many of her European counterparts, Meloni said Italy will only recognise a Palestinian state if
Hamas frees all the remaining hostages, and
The terror group is excluded from government.
This, of course, proved too much for some pro-Palestine figures in Italy. Former PM Giuseppe Conte said the government was wrong not to “lift a finger against the genocide in Gaza,” and praised Spain for taking tougher action against Israel. He even suggested that this was because Meloni is too busy dealing with accusations of fraud against one of her ministers.
On the contrary, Spanish Socialist Pedro Sánchez is surrounded by many more accusations that he is “allying with Hamas” in order to cover up (ever-deepening) corruption scandals at home.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
