'Right then, right now': Benjamin Netanyahu shares old interview; likens Palestine recognition to fleeing from a ‘grizzly bear’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday criticised countries that have announced plans to formally recognise Palestine as an independent state, likening their actions to someone fleeing from a grizzly bear and abandoning others to face the danger.

Referring to himself in the third person, he posted an old interview on X in which he told a story about two people who encountered a grizzly bear.


"To those who call to recognize a terrorist state next to Israel. Listen to Prime Minister Netanyahu, he was right then, he is right now," the Israeli premier wrote.

In the old interview he shared, Netanyahu said: "There's a story about 2 people, who walk in the forest and are suddenly confronted by a grizzly bear charging at them. One of them begins to run away and the other asks, 'Why are you running? Don't you know you that you can't outrun a grizzly bear? 'And the man running says, 'I don't have to outrun the grizzly bear. I have to outrun you.'"


He added: "That's the attitude of some, I think, in the West. They think they can run from the 'grizzly bear terrorism' and leave a few countries behind to be gobbled by it. But in fact, no one can outrun it. The only thing you can do with this phenomenon is to turn around, squarely face it, and confront it and defeat it. And you can only do it together."

On Tuesday, Belgium became the latest country to announce it would recognise Palestine as an independent state. France, the UK, Canada and Australia have already signalled their intention to do the same.

A majority of the UN’s 193 member states already recognise Palestine, with European nations such as Spain, Ireland and Norway formalising recognition last year. Israel, backed by its closest ally the United States, has consistently opposed the move, arguing that it would endanger the Jewish state’s security.