Watch: ‘I Didn’t Meet Netanyahu Like Joseph Muscat Did’ – Metsola Defends Israel Trip
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola has defended her controversial trip to Israel in the wake of the 7th October attacks, arguing that she didn’t meet Benjamin Netanyahu and that she urged the Israelis to exercise caution.
“I spoke to the President (Isaac Herzog), not the Prime Minister. I didn’t meet Netanyahu like Joseph Muscat and representatives of Robert Abela did,” Metsola said during an interview on Andrew Azzopardi on RTK103.
In 2013, Muscat became the first, and so far only, Maltese Prime Minister to visit Israel and hold official meetings with Netanyahu.
Metsola’s trip to Israel has become a contentious issue locally, with Abela warning it sent the Israelis a signal that the EU was green-lighting their attacks on Gaza.
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However, Metsola said today that she had specifically urged Israel to exercise caution.
“I saw the bodies [of people Hamas killed], I saw girls who had been mutilated and raped. I told Israel that what happened to them was wrong but that they are a democracy so they must be careful on how to react.”
She also whipped out a letter that the Palestinian Authority, which she said should take control over Gaza, had sent her to personally thank her for her diplomatic efforts in the region.
Metsola condemned Israel for its heavy attacks on Gaza, warning that if the killing of 1,500 Israelis is wrong, the killing of 20,000 Palestinians is even more so.
She described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “catastrophic” and urged Malta to take in more Palestinian refugees.
However, she stopped short of calling Israel’s campaign a “genocide”, stating that it is up to the International Court of Justice to decide this but that Netanyahu must “shoulder political responsibility”.
Should Malta take in more refugees from Gaza?
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