Netanyahu Wants Baltic Leaders’ Help in Changing EU’s View of Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed in Lithuania Thursday for a visit with leaders of the Baltic States. He hopes to deepen ties with the three nations so that they might become an advocate for Israel in the European Union. 

In prepared remarks, Netanyahu criticized the EU over a recent support package designed to buttress Iran’s struggling economy. The first installment in the deal will inject 18 million euros ($21 million) into Iran’s economy. The EU’s economic commitment is designed to keep the Iranian nuclear deal, from which President Trump withdrew in May, from falling apart.

Netanyahu called the economic package a “big mistake” and “a poison pill to the Iranian people and to the efforts to curb Iranian aggression in the region and beyond the region.” He later told a press conference that Iran had just attempted a terrorist attack on European soil over the summer, likely referring to a suspected bomb plot in late June. Authorities prevented the attack, which targeted an Iranian opposition rally in France. Officials suspected that an Iranian diplomat cooperated in coordinating the plot.

Netanyahu met with the three Baltic prime ministers– Saulius Skvernelis of Lithuania, Juri Ratas of Estonia, and Maris Kucinskis of Latvia. He forged a seemingly strong bond with Skvernelis, who told the Baltic News Service, “I believe Lithuania…