As reported on Instagram
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that an alliance between Islamist movements and the far left is undermining Western societies, accusing European governments of surrendering to it. In an interview with American broadcaster Mark Levin, Netanyahu described Europe as "an exhausted continent" with "no will to fight," and said its governments were yielding to Islamist constituencies and what he described as an alliance between Islamists and the "woke left."
Britain drew some of his sharpest language. "Look at what they do in Islamist Britain now," Netanyahu said, claiming that 3,000 people in Britain had been brought to court over social-media posts and that some had been jailed. He did not identify a source for that figure, and British government data does not provide a single official count of people prosecuted specifically over social-media posts.
France, gripped by some of its most serious street unrest in years, was his central example. Netanyahu said Hamas is now "on the streets of Paris" and argued the turmoil could change France's political makeup. He recalled warning President Emmanuel Macron after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that if Israel did not eliminate Hamas in Gaza, France would face it in Paris — and said that is exactly what is happening. In a separate interview with i24NEWS, he accused the French government of failing to confront radical Islam and of having surrendered to it.
European leaders, he said, were "so weak and passive" and were trying to appease "the worst fanatics in their realm" instead of standing their ground. He contrasted them with President Donald Trump, whom he held up as a leader, and accused European governments of criticising Israel at the United Nations while privately asking Israel for help against terrorism.
Netanyahu cast Israel's own fight as part of the same struggle. Israel's war against Iran and its allied groups, he said, also defends the United States and Western civilisation, and he described Israel as America's one "fighting ally" in the world. The remarks came in the final days of Israel's election campaign, in which Trump has taken the unusual step of publicly endorsing Netanyahu's re-election.
The characterisation drew a direct rebuttal from Paris. Macron accused foreign leaders of exploiting France's riots for political gain — acknowledging, when pressed, that Trump was among those he meant, alongside Netanyahu — and rejected claims that France had experienced an invasion of immigrants and Islamist extremists as "completely false." He also said some of the most widely shared videos of the disturbances were generated with artificial intelligence and depicted scenes that never took place. Critics of Netanyahu's framing argue separately that it groups together movements and Muslim communities that are not the same, and that criticism of Israel's government or support for Palestinian rights does not by itself indicate sympathy for radical Islam.