Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman
Foreign Minister Avigdor LiebermanIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Europe has “slapped itself in the face” by ignoring Hamas’ threats as it ignored the Nazi death camps in the Holocaust, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman charged on Tuesday, a day after Europe condemned Israel for construction plans for Jews in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

He told Voice of Israel public radio that Europe had turned a blind eye to a speech by Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal this past week, in which he said the Palestinians would not "cede an inch" of what it calls historic Palestine, meaning virtually all of Israel.

"Once again, Europe has ignored calls for Israel's destruction," Lieberman told Israeli public radio.

"We've already seen this at the end of the 1930s and at the beginning of the 1940s when Europe knew what was happening in the concentration camps and didn't act.

"Europe has slapped itself in the face.

“When Jews are sacrificed, you have to ask yourself who will be next. In Toulouse, the terrorist who killed Jewish children also killed French soldiers," said Lieberman, referring to terrorist Mohammed Merah, who killed three Jewish schoolchildren and a teacher in Toulouse in March. Three days earlier, he murdered three French troops, AFP noted.

"Terrorism attacks Jews but it targets all countries and Western values. Israel is just an hors d'oeuvre," Foreign Minister Lieberman added.

He also criticized Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas for failing to publicly criticize Mashaal's speech and pursuing reconciliation with Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip.

Abbas also was silent during Hamas’ lethal missile assault on Israel that ended with a ceasefire following Israel’s eight-day Operation Pillar of Defense.

"Hamas calls for Israel's destruction and refused to recognize Israel and Abu Mazen (Abbas) supports this position while Europe stays quiet," said Lieberman.

Labor Knesset Member Yitzchak Herzog accused Lieberman of spreading "fear and anguish among Israelis by establishing a link between the current situation and the Holocaust.”

Herzog argued that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to build on the “E-1” area of Maaleh Adumim, east of the capital, "endangers Jerusalem, isolates Israel and weakens Abu Mazen while strengthening Hamas.”