Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the annual ceremony at the eve of Israels Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers (Yom HaZikaron) at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. (Photo by Abir SULTAN / POOL / AFP)
Israel has “work” to do in winning over young people in the West as polls show collapsing support, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted to a UK-based podcast in an interview aired Wednesday.
Protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza have become increasingly common in capitals across the West, attracting large numbers of young people.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the annual ceremony at the eve of Israels Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers (Yom HaZikaron) at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. (Photo by Abir SULTAN / POOL / AFP)
Israel has “work” to do in winning over young people in the West as polls show collapsing support, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted to a UK-based podcast in an interview aired Wednesday.
Protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza have become increasingly common in capitals across the West, attracting large numbers of young people.
Israel’s defence minister approved a plan on Wednesday for the conquest of Gaza City and authorised the call-up of around 60,000 reservists, piling pressure on the Palestinian militant group Hamas as mediators push for a ceasefire.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 62,122 Palestinians, most of them civilians, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said, in figures the United Nations deem reliable.
Since returning to the White House in January, US President Donald Trump has offered Israel ironclad support.
Netanyahu told the podcast, which bills itself as promoting free speech with “open, fact-based discussion of important and controversial issues”, that Trump “has proven an exceptional, exceptional friend of Israel, an exceptional leader.”
“I think we’ve been very fortunate to have a leader in the United States who doesn’t act like the European leaders, who doesn’t succumb to this stuff,” he added, referring to countries including France and the UK that have vowed to recognise a Palestinian state.
AFP