New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said Wednesday that his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu has “lost the plot” and that Israel’s planned occupation of Gaza City is “utterly unacceptable.”
Luxon’s comments come as his conservative coalition government weighs whether to join other members of the Five-Eyes security alliance, Australia, Britain and Canada, in moving to recognize a Palestinian state; and as international condemnation and anger builds over Israel’s recent decision to expand its war to take control of Gaza City, the throttling of aid and mass starvation in the enclave.
Luxon, who leads the right-leaning National Party, said Netanyahu is “not listening” to the international community’s demands for “unfettered” humanitarian aid to be delivered to Gaza.
“I think Netanyahu has gone too far. I think he has lost the plot. And I think what we are seeing overnight with the attack on Gaza City is utterly, utterly unacceptable,” Luxon said, in some of his strongest comments against Israel’s actions in Gaza to date.
Netanhayu’s office has not yet responded to Luxon’s comment. But Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel posted a response on X, saying: “I guess when you don’t really need an army because your most deadly enemy is a possum or a cat, you wouldn’t comprehend the challenges that come with facing Hamas.”
Israel has continued its intense aerial attacks on Gaza this week and Netanyahu’s planned military takeover of Gaza City, expected to force up to a million people to leave the city, has been widely condemned.
“We have said a forcible displacement of people and an annexation of Gaza would be a breach of international law,” said Luxon.
Chaotic scenes continue to emerge from Gaza, with violence and starvation deepening amid Israel’s tight control of aid to the territory. At least 227 people – including 103 children – have died from malnutrition since the beginning of the war, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Foreign ministers from dozens of countries on Tuesday jointly said that suffering has reached “unimaginable levels” and “famine is unfolding before our eyes” as they demand that Israel allow more aid into Gaza and permit humanitarian organizations to operate there.
Luxon is not the only western leader to openly criticize Israel’s Prime Minister in recent days. On Tuesday, Australia’s leader Anthony Albanese said he had spoken to Netanyahu but found him to be “in denial” about the human cost of the war in Gaza.
“He (Netanyahu) again reiterated to me what he has said publicly as well, which is to be in denial about the consequences that are occurring for innocent people,” Albanese told Australia’s public broadcaster ABC.
Earlier this week, Australia announced it would move to recognize Palestinian statehood at the United National General Assembly meeting in September, leaving New Zealand as the only member of the Five Eyes security alliance, except the United States, not to pledge to do so. French President Emmanuel Macron has also said France will recognize a Palestinian state in an announcement to the United Nations General Assembly in September.
“The urgent need today is to end the war in Gaza and to rescue the civilian population,” said Macron in a July statement, reiterating calls for an immediate ceasefire, access to humanitarian aid for the population of Gaza, the release of all hostages and the demilitarization of Hamas.
Washington has found itself increasingly at odds with key western allies over Israel and how the war in Gaza is being conducted. Both Israel and the US have condemned moves to recognize a Palestinian state.
Luxon announced Monday that New Zealand would consider its position on recognizing a Palestinian state over the next month, prompting fierce criticism at home for what is considered by some to be a lack of action on Israel.
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who went on to lead the United Nation’s Development Program after exiting domestic politics, lambasted Luxon’s coalition government on Tuesday for not moving quickly enough.
“We now really seem to stand for nothing except you know, somehow wanting to save our own skin in a tariff war,” she told New Zealand’s public broadcaster RNZ on Tuesday. “I think it’s really quite a humiliating position for New Zealand to be in.”
On Wednesday, Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick was kicked out of Parliament for refusing to apologize for comments she made suggesting coalition lawmakers grow a spine and support a bill to sanction Israel.
“If we find six of 68 government MPs (members of Parliament) with a spine, we can stand on the right side of history,” said Swarbrick Tuesday.
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