PM says Qatar, China attempting to ‘blockade’ Israel politically, but ‘the US is with us’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says China and Qatar are leading a campaign in Western media to “besiege” Israel by eroding the support of its allies, speaking to a delegation of 250 US state legislators at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem.

“We value and cherish your support,” the premier tells the delegation — the largest group of legislators from a single country ever to visit Israel — adding that “there is an effort to erode [that support].”

“An effort to besiege — not isolate as much as besiege Israel — that is orchestrated by the same forces that supported Iran,” he continues.

While Iran attempted “a military siege” on Israel through its network of terror proxies, and Israel was “able to break loose from that siege,” the premier says, “we will have to do several things to break loose from this siege that is organized by a few states.”

He names those states: “One is China. And the other is Qatar. They are organizing an attack on Israel… [through] the social media of the Western world and the United States. We will have to counter it, and we will counter it with our own methods,” he warns.

Clarifying his statements to i24 news after speaking, Netanyahu says in Hebrew: “There is now an attempt to impose a blockade on Israel by various entities and countries, led by Qatar. First of all, a media blockade funded with enormous sums of money, both from Qatar and from other countries such as China.”

“In the coming years, we will need to strengthen our independent arms industries so that we have independence in weaponry, an armaments economy, and the industrial capability to produce them. That is why we will break through this blockade,” he adds, reiterating comments he made earlier today at an event hosted by the accountant general.

“Have they achieved global isolation? No. The US is with us, as are many other countries. But we do currently have a problem centered in Western Europe, and we are working and will continue to work to remove this blockade,” he says. “Just as we succeeded with the military blockade, we will also succeed with the political blockade.”