Israel promptly withdrew its envoys after Norway, Ireland, and Spain declared on Wednesday that they will recognize the establishment of a Palestinian state.
While the Presidents of Norway and Spain declared their countries will recognize Palestine as a state as of May 28, the leader of Ireland stated his country would recognize Palestine as a state but did not say when.
The announcement was made in Dublin by Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris, in Madrid by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, and in Oslo by Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.
Israel declared right once that it was sending its envoys back to Norway and Ireland for “urgent consultations”.
“Today, I am sending a sharp message to Ireland and Norway: Israel will not go over this in silence,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement, adding that he planned to do the same with he Spanish ambassador.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry had earlier warned Ireland that “recognizing a Palestinian state risks turning you into a pawn in the hands of Iran and Hamas” and that doing so would “only fuel extremism and instability” in a video message released on the social media platform X.
Plans for Palestinian recognition, according to Israel, are a “prize for terrorism” that would lessen the likelihood of a diplomatic settlement to the Gaza conflict, which started on October 7 when Hamas militants broke into southern Israel.
