Netanyahu has been caught by journalists imploring central European leaders to campaign for Israel in the EU. Conference organizers quickly cut his microphone when they realized his closed-door comments were broadcast.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/B. Mohai
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Israel's Netanyahu caught on microphone slamming EU
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was inadvertently picked up by a live microphone on Wednesday calling the European Union "crazy" and admitting to missile strikes in Syria.
Netanyahu was at a regional summit in Hungary at a closed-door session with the premiers of Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia when his conversation was transmitted to reporters' headphones.
"It's crazy. I think it's actually crazy (that the EU maintains that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must come before closer trade ties)," Netanyahu was quoted as saying by the news agency AP.
"There is no logic here. Europe is undermining its security by undermining Israel. Europe is undermining its progress by undermining the connection with Israeli innovation because of a crazy attempt to create conditions (for peace with the Palestinians)," said Netanyahu.
Netanyahu urged the Central European leaders to encourage the EU to ease conditions for advancing bilateral ties.
"I think Europe has to decide if it wants to live and thrive or if it wants to shrivel and disappear," he was quoted as saying by Times of Israel.
"I am not very politically correct. I know that's a shock to some of you. It's a joke. But the truth is the truth - both about Europe's security and Europe's economic future. Both of these concerns mandate a different policy towards Israel," the Times of Israel quoted.
"If I can suggest that what comes out of this meeting is your ability, perhaps, to communicate to your colleagues in other parts of Europe: Help, Europe... Don't undermine the one Western country that defends European values and European interests and prevents another mass migration to Europe," he reportedly told Hungary's Viktor Orban, the Czech Republic's Bohuslav Sobotka, Poland's Beata Szydlo and Slovakia's Robert Fico.
The city of Jerusalem has been one of the thorniest issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. DW compares the city in 1967, during the Six-Day War, with how it looks 50 years on.
Image: Reuters/R. Zvulun
Mount of Olives today
The old City Wall and the gold-domed Muslim shrine, the Dome of the Rock, are visible in the background from the mountain ridge which lies to the east of the Old City. The Old Jewish Cemetery, situated on the western and southern slopes of the ridge, are in an area once named for its many olive groves. It is the oldest continually used Jewish cemetery in the world.
Image: Reuters/R. Zvulun
Mount of Olives then
If it weren't for the ancient Ottoman city wall and the shrine in the background, viewers might not realize this is the same site. The picture was taken on June 7th, 1967, when the peak was this brigade's command post at the height of the Six-Day War, or Arab-Israeli War.
Image: Government Press Office/REUTERS
Al-Aqsa mosque today
Al-Aqsa, with its silver-colored dome and vast hall, is located on Temple Mount. Muslims call the mosque the "Noble Sanctuary," but it is also the most sacred site in Judaism, a place where two biblical temples were believed to have stood. As well, it is the third holiest site in Sunni Islam, after Mecca and Medina. There have long been tensions over control of the entire Temple Mount area.
Image: Reuters/A. Awad
Al-Aqsa mosque then
The name Al-Aqsa translates to "the farthest mosque." It is also Jerusalem's biggest mosque. Israel has strict control over the area after conquering all of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War, and regaining access to its religious sites. Leaders at the time agreed that the Temple Mount would be administered by an Islamic religious trust known as the Waqf.
Image: Reuters/
Damascus Gate today
The historic Gate, named in English for the fact that the road from there heads north to Damascus, is a busy main entrance to Palestinian East Jerusalem, and to a bustling Arab bazaar. Over the past two years, it has frequently been the site of security incidents and Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
Image: Reuters/R. Zvulun
Damascus Gate then
The gate itself - what we see today was built by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1537 - looks much the same in this July 1967 picture. Seven Gates allow entrance to the Old City and its separate quarters.
Image: Reuters/
Old City today
Jerusalem's vibrant Old City, a UNESCO world Heritage Site since 1981, is home to sites important to many different religions: the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque for Muslims, Temple Mount and the Western Wall for Jews, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians. Busy and colorful, it is a great place for shopping and food, and a top attraction for visitors.
Image: Reuters/A. Awad
Old City then
This picture was taken in July 1967, but 50 years later, some things in the Old City haven't changed at all. Boys like the one in the photo balancing a tray of sesame pastries - called bagels - still roam the streets of the Old City today, hawking the sweet breads sprinkled with sesame seeds for about a euro ($1.12) apiece.
Image: Reuters/Fritz Cohen/Courtesy of Government Press Office
Western Wall today
This section of ancient limestone wall in Jerusalem's Old City is the western support wall of the Temple Mount. It is the most religious site for Jewish people, who come here to pray and perhaps to place a note in a crack in the wall. There is a separate section for men and for women, but it is free and open to everyone all year round - after the obligatory security check.
Image: Reuters/R. Zvulun
Western Wall then
The Western Wall is also known as the 'Wailing' Wall, a term considered derogatory and not used by Jews. The above photo of people flocking to the Wall to pray was taken on September 1, 1967, just weeks after Israel regained control of the site following the Six-Day-War. It had been expelled from the Old City 19 years earlier during Jordan's occupation.
Netanyahu told the leaders that the EU was alone in its stipulations for working with Israel.
"The European Union is the only association of countries in the world that conditions the relations with Israel - that produces technology in every area - on political conditions. The only ones. Nobody does it," Netanyahu was quoted as saying by AP, citing Russia, China and India's willingness to do business with Israel despite politics.
Admits Syrian strikes
Netanyahu also made a rare public admission that Israel has struck Iranian arms convoys in Syria bound for Hezbollah "dozens and dozens of times." He also made positive comments about the change in US administration from Barack Obama to Donald Trump.
The EU does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over territories it captured in the 1967 Mideast war, including the West Bank and east Jerusalem. It has criticized Israel's settlement construction and requires the labeling of goods produced in West Bank settlements.
After a few minutes it became clear that journalists could hear the comments and the sound was cut.
The Six Day War: Fifty years of occupation and uncertainty
