News / Palestine

West governments seek my overthrow: Netanyahu

Sunday, 15 March 2015 11:14 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 16 March 2015 11:36 AM ]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech to his supporters during an election campaign meeting in the Israeli Mediterranean coastal city of Netanya on March 11, 2015. © AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused the West, particularly the Scandinavian governments, of plotting to remove him from power.

“Scandinavian governments have spent millions of dollars on a campaign to remove me from power,” Netanyahu told Israel’s Kol radio station on Sunday.

The Israeli premier further said Western governments, mostly Scandinavians, prefer his opponents to win the regime’s upcoming parliamentary election.

The relations between Israel and Scandinavian governments have recently soured. In October 2014, Sweden became the first EU country to recognize Palestine as a sovereign state.

Following Sweden’s decision, Israel’s Ambassador to Stockholm Isaac Bachman was recalled.

Netanyahu’s comments come just two days before Israel’s parliamentary election as his Likud Party is facing a tough challenge against competitors.

An opinion survey on March 10 revealed that the opposition Zionist Union is edging Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party in the March 17 elections.

The poll conducted by Israeli research institute, Panel Politics, found that Isaac Herzog's Zionist Union, which identifies itself as center-leftist, could earn 24 seats against Likud’s 21 projected seats in the Knesset (Israeli parliament).

Earlier on Thursday, Netanyahu acknowledged that his Likud party risks losing the upcoming parliamentary elections.

“Our security is at great risk because there is a real danger that we could lose this election,” he said.

On March 7, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Tel Aviv to voice their anger at Netanyahu’s warmongering policies, calling on him to step down.

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