{"id":2255,"date":"2025-08-16T15:36:36","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T15:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/08\/16\/arab-islamic-countries-condemn-netanyahus-greater-israel-remark\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T15:36:36","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T15:36:36","slug":"arab-islamic-countries-condemn-netanyahus-greater-israel-remark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/08\/16\/arab-islamic-countries-condemn-netanyahus-greater-israel-remark\/","title":{"rendered":"Arab, Islamic countries condemn Netanyahu\u2019s \u2018Greater Israel\u2019 remark"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A statement issued by the countries says the Israeli prime minister\u2019s comments constitutes a direct threat to Arab national security and peace.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A coalition of Arab and Muslim nations has condemned \u201cin the strongest terms\u201d statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding his vision for a \u201cGreater Israel\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When interviewer Sharon Gal with the Israeli i24NEWS channel asked Netanyahu if he subscribed to a \u201cvision\u201d for a \u201cGreater Israel\u201d, Netanyahu said \u201cabsolutely\u201d. Asked during the interview aired on Tuesday if he felt connected to the \u201cGreater Israel\u201d vision, Netanyahu said: \u201cVery much.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cGreater Israel\u201d concept supported by ultranationalist Israelis is understood to refer to an expansionist vision that lays claim to the occupied West Bank, Gaza, parts of Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Jordan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese statements represent a grave disregard for, and a blatant and dangerous violation of, the rules of international law and the foundations of stable international relations,\u201d said a joint statement<\/a> by a coalition of 31 Arab and Islamic countries and the Arab League.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey also constitute a direct threat to Arab national security, to the sovereignty of states, and to regional and international peace and security,\u201d the statement released on Friday said.<\/p>\n

The signatories of the statement included the secretaries-general of the League of Arab States, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Gulf Cooperation Council.<\/p>\n

The Arab and Islamic nations also condemned Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich\u2019s announcement on Thursday to push ahead with settlement expansion<\/a> in the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n

The statement said the move is \u201ca blatant violation of international law and a flagrant assault on the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to realise their independent, sovereign state on the lines of June 4, 1967, with Occupied Jerusalem as its capital\u201d.<\/p>\n

The statement added that Israel has no sovereignty over occupied Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n

Smotrich said<\/a> he would approve thousands of housing units in a long-delayed illegal settlement project in the West Bank, saying the move \u201cburies the idea of a Palestinian state\u201d.<\/p>\n

Last September, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) overwhelmingly adopted a resolution<\/a> calling on Israel to end its illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories within 12 months.<\/p>\n

The resolution backed an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ)<\/a> \u2013 the UN\u2019s top court \u2013 which found that Israel\u2019s presence in the Palestinian territories is unlawful and must end. In January 2024, the ICJ said Israel was \u201cplausibly committing genocide\u201d<\/a>. The top UN court has yet to announce its verdict in the case brought by South Africa.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu and Smotrich made the remarks during Israel\u2019s devastating 22-month war<\/a> on Gaza, which has killed at least 61,827 people and wounded 155,275 people in the enclave.<\/p>\n

Last week, Israel\u2019s Security Cabinet approved Netanyahu\u2019s plan to fully occupy Gaza City, and in Tuesday\u2019s interview, Netanyahu also revived calls to \u201callow\u201d Palestinians to leave Gaza, telling i24NEWS: \u201cWe are not pushing them out, but we are allowing them to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campaigners said Netanyahu\u2019s use of the word \u201cleave\u201d was a euphemism for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza \u2013 home to 2.1 million people, most of whom are refugees and their descendants from the 1948 Nakba when more than 700,000 Palestinians were forced to flee from what became the state of Israel.<\/p>\n

Past calls to resettle people from Gaza outside the war-battered territory, including from United States President Donald Trump, have sparked fears of forced displacement among Palestinians and condemnation from the international community.<\/p>\n

In their statement on Saturday, the Islamic countries reiterated their \u201crejection and condemnation of Israel\u2019s crimes of aggression, genocide, and ethnic cleansing\u201d in Gaza and highlighted the need for a ceasefire in the enclave while \u201censuring unconditional access to humanitarian aid to halt the systematic starvation policy used by Israel as a weapon of genocide\u201d.<\/p>\n

They also reaffirmed their \u201ccomplete and absolute rejection of the displacement of the Palestinian people in any form and under any pretext\u201d and called on the international community to pressure Israel to halt its aggression and fully withdraw from the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Source: <\/p>\n

Al Jazeera and news agencies<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A statement issued by the countries says the Israeli prime minister\u2019s comments constitutes a direct threat to Arab national security and peace. A coalition of Arab and Muslim nations has condemned \u201cin the strongest terms\u201d statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding his vision for a \u201cGreater Israel\u201d. When interviewer Sharon Gal with … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}