Norway’s foreign minister warns Netanyahu government driving Israel into ‘very dangerous place’

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide warned that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken Israel to a “very dangerous place,” Anadolu reports.

In remarks to Euronews in Riga, Latvia published on Friday, Eide described the current Israeli government as “the most far-right government in Israel’s history” and expressed hope that the country would eventually recognize it had been on a “very dangerous track,” regardless of the outcome of elections scheduled for October.

Eide also criticized Western countries’ response to conflicts in the Middle East, arguing that they “undermined” their credibility through what he called a “wobbly, unclear and unprincipled” approach.

“The problem has been that too many countries have been careful in criticizing Israel because you were so easily attacked for being anti-Semitic,” he said, adding that this pushed the international community toward “less daring positions.”

His remarks came days after Norway joined 11 other countries in announcing plans to introduce restrictions on trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Norway recognized Palestine in 2024.

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