The rebuttal of the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, was held in high tones, who responded to the criticism of Sokratis Famellos and Nikos Androulakis regarding the government’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war.

Mr. Mitsotakis defended Greece’s position by emphasizing that from the first moment there was a separation between Hamas and the Palestinian people, but also in Israel’s military reaction which should take international law into account.

“We separated Hamas from the Palestinian people. Hamas is a terrorist organization and is harming the Palestinian people and must be defeated Greece called for “humanitarian pauses and a halt to operations to support the civilians of Gaza as the attack has escalated far beyond a rhetorical response to the attack on Israel” , said the prime minister.

“In Cairo I saw President Abbas and I also spoke on the phone with Mr. Famelle and Mr. Androulakis,” said Mr. Mitsotakis in response to the president of the SYRIZA KO who had mentioned that the prime minister met only the prime minister of Israel and not president of the Palestinian Authority.

Responding to Mr. Androulakis, the prime minister said “And really, Mr. Androulakis, you came and told us about the great political legacy of PASOK. And you referred to the times of Andreas Papandreou and Yasser Arafat, 80s, claiming what? That the country’s relations with our wider neighborhood were balanced then?

Because I want to remind you – because you probably don’t remember them well – that during the time of Andreas Papandreou, Greece was the only country that had not officially recognized the state of Israel. And this you come and claim now referring to that period, that it was a balanced policy. Either you don’t know them, so you’d do well to educate yourself and read a little more about your party’s history, or you’re simply off topic by making this particular reference.”

Mind you, I did not refer to other PASOK leaders who maintained a more balanced stance. The state of Israel was recognized by a decision of Constantinos Mitsotakis in April 1990 and we were the last European country to recognize Israel. And you are coming back to this period. What can I tell you now? From there, let everyone draw their own conclusions.”