Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met on Tuesday with European Council President Donald Tusk where he expressed bewilderment over Europe’s continued “anti-Israel obsession.”

After welcoming Tusk, Netanyahu noted Israel’s advances in innovation as well as its fight against Islamic extremism, asserting that Europe could be a productive partner in each of these fields. 

“I think that there are many common challenges that we face, and in this regard I find it perplexing that some in Europe are still possessed by the anti-Israeli obsession,” Netanyahu stated. 

“Nothing is happening, hundreds of thousands are being slaughtered in the Middle East, millions are being displaced, but some in Europe believe the only thing they have to do is to press, boycott and vilify the Middle East’s only true democracy, Israel, the only vanguard of liberty, the only country where human rights are respected, where there is a free press and where the values that we share with Europe serve as our map and our compass and our way of life.” 

“I find this inexplicable but I find it also to the detriment of Europe,” the Prime Minister argued.

“We are the guardians of civilization here in the heart of the Middle East against this new barbarism, and I want to discuss with you, as I’ve discussed with other European leaders and will discuss with them, how Europe and Israel can cooperate to assure the progress of modernity for all the peoples of the Middle East, for peace with all our neighbors, but also for the sake of our common future.”

I want “to see if we can steer Europe into a more productive course rather than the one that seeks to unilaterally press Israel into agreements that will endanger our very existence and therefore your very defense,” Netanyahu concluded.