Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has namechecked New Zealand as a Western country whose leaders are buckling under pressure to recognise a Palestinian state.
His comments came as Israel approved a major settlement project in the occupied West Bank, a move that the Palestinian Authority says would undermine any possible two-state solution.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said this morning that New Zealand has opposed settlement activity in the area. He also said Israeli forces entering Gaza City was “utterly unacceptable”.
“We’re now seeing settlements taking place in the West Bank, and settlement activity there is illegal under international law, and New Zealand has opposed it for a long period of time,” Luxon said.
“You’re seeing now very public statements coming out from Israeli ministers, saying they are wanting to extinguish the pathway to a two-state solution. That is something that New Zealand and all countries signed up for back in 1947.
“It’s very concerning, and it’s not too late for Israel to pull out of those settlements and pull out of that military action in Gaza as well.”
Speaking about the threat of Hamas on the TRIGGERnometry podcast this week, Netanyahu said there had previously been a question of whether Israel “had the consensus, both national and international, to go into Gaza and wipe them out”.
He believed Israel didn’t have that consensus until October 7, 2023, when Hamas invaded Israel and killed roughly 1200 people and took others hostage.
“That changed,” Netanyahu said. “We had that consensus, at least for a while, until the Western leaders buckled. But that doesn’t change our understanding that we have to get rid of Hamas.”
He suggested that recognising a Palestinian state would reward Hamas after what he called the “greatest savagery against Jews since the Holocaust”.
However, the UK Government has said Hamas can play no role in the future governance of a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu said countries liked to say they recognised Israel’s right to defend itself, “as long as Israel doesn’t exercise that right”.
“Let’s imagine what would be the response of Britain if about 15,000 people or 10,000 people would be butchered in one day and you’d have 2500 hostages taken. Would you say, ‘Oh, well, we should give our attackers a state right next to London?’ Of course not.”
He said it was “shameful the way that the Western leaders in Britain, in France, in Canada and New Zealand, the way they buckle under”.
“Europe has gone through the destruction of the Jews. Eighty years later, that’s what they have to say. They attack the Jewish state and they give a prize for those who would destroy the one and only Jewish state. Shameful.”
New Zealand has not recognised a Palestinian state, but has said it is a matter of when, rather than if, that occurs. Earlier this month, the Government began a process of formally weighing up New Zealand’s position, before a decision next month.
Other Western countries, including the UK and Australia, have indicated they will recognise a Palestinian state next month.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Israel’s approval of construction in the E1 parcel of land east of Jerusalem would be a violation of international law and divide the area.
It is vital to reach immediately a ceasefire in Gaza and the unconditional release of all hostages, and to avoid the massive death and destruction that a military operation against Gaza would inevitably cause.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) August 21, 2025
Simultaneously, the decision by the Israeli authorities to expand… pic.twitter.com/oqf6q6vo5N
The Palestinian Authority has said such settlements undermine the chances of establishing a Palestinian state and fragment geographic and demographic unity.
According to reports, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the Palestinian state was “being erased from the table not with slogans but with actions”.
“Every settlement, every neighbourhood, every housing unit is another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea.”
New Zealand placed a travel ban on Smotrich, as well as his colleague Itamar Ben-Gvir, in June for “using their leadership positions to actively undermine peace and security and remove prospects for a two-state solution”.
Other political parties in Parliament have called on the Government to ramp up pressure on Israel.
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has a bill in the ballot to impose sanctions on “individuals or entities that are responsible for, associated with, or involved in the unlawful presence of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.
Earlier this month, Luxon said Netanyahu had “gone way too far” and “lost the plot” when it came to Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, which Luxon said was “utterly unacceptable”.
Israeli Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Sharren Haskel responded to that on X, saying: “I guess when you don’t really need an army because your most deadly enemy is a possum or a cat, you wouldn’t comprehend the challenges that come with facing Hamas – a jihadist death cult – only a few kms away from your country, that rape, execute, burn alive, and starve your people.”
Luxon did not back down from his comments, saying “they’re entitled to their view, we’re entitled to ours”.
He disputed that he played down the horrors of the October 2023 attacks on Israel, saying that, whenever he spoke on the issue, “the first thing out of my mouth is the abhorrence of what we saw on October 7″.
But he followed those remarks by saying he expected Israel to provide “unfettered” humanitarian aid and support in Gaza.
“We expect Israel to comply and make sure they’re protecting civilians as well. Go back and look at the record of my consistency in my statements.”
Luxon said he was the Prime Minister who designated the entirety of Hamas as a terrorist organisation.
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. In 2025, he was a finalist for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.