Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Saturday that her Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu has become a “problem,” adding she would try to put pressure on Israel over the Gaza war as her country currently holds the European Union presidency.
The comments come amid mounting international pressure on Israel over the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, especially from Israel’s European allies and from the EU itself.
“Netanyahu is now a problem in himself,” Frederiksen said in an interview with the Jyllands-Posten daily, noting that Denmark has long stood by Israel, and that she is personally committed to continuing this support.
The Danish premier said she thinks Israel would be better off without Netanyahu in charge, saying that the current government is acting against the interests of the country, though she clarified that was a matter for Israelis.
The center-right Danish leader also described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “absolutely appalling and catastrophic.”
The Israeli government is going “too far,” she added, also condemning settler violence and the new settlement plan to build over 3,000 housing units in the E1 area of the West Bank, which Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on Wednesday.
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen delivers her speech as Denmark holds the rotating presidency of the Council of Europe, July 8, 2025 at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Pascal Bastien)
“We are one of the countries that wants to increase pressure on Israel, but we have not yet obtained the support of EU members,” she said.
Frederiksen added that she wanted to consider “political pressure, sanctions, whether against settlers, ministers, or even Israel as a whole,” referring to trade or research sanctions.
“We are not ruling anything out in advance. Just as with Russia, we are designing the sanctions to target where we believe they will have the greatest effect,” added Frederiksen.
Asked if Denmark plans to join its Scandinavian neighbors and other European countries in recognizing a Palestinian state, the Danish premier said that her country will not do so as long as Hamas still controls major parts of territories claimed by the Palestinians for a future state.
Denmark does not wish to “reward” Hamas, she said, after the terror group sparked the war in Gaza its with its invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 61,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
Displaced Palestinians walk through a makeshift camp along the beach in Gaza City, August 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
France blasts E1 plans as ‘colonization’
Adding to recent condemnations of the new E1 settlement plan, France on Saturday called the project “a serious violation of international law.”
A French foreign ministry spokesman said that Paris “condemns with the utmost firmness” the plan.
France said it “reiterates its condemnation of colonization” and said it “remains mobilized alongside its European partners to increase pressure on Israel to end colonization, including through new sanctions against the individuals and entities responsible for colonization.”
Several countries, as well as the United Nations, have sharply condemned the E1 project, saying it undermines hopes for a contiguous future Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends a press conference announcing his plans to approve more than 3,000 housing units in the E1 settlement project between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim on August 14, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The potential construction of the new neighborhood for Ma’ale Adumim in the so-called E1 zone has long been cause for alarm in the international community. It would divide the West Bank into northern and southern regions and prevent the development of a Palestinian metropolis that connects East Jerusalem to Bethlehem and Ramallah, which the Palestinians have long hoped would serve as the foundation of their future state.
Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, along with the Gaza Strip from Egypt, during the 1967 Six Day War. The Palestinians want all three areas for a state. Most of the international community views settlements as illegal and an obstacle to resolving the longstanding conflict.
Israel annexed East Jerusalem, but has refrained from taking the step in the West Bank. Far-right leaders, including Smotrich, have also pushed for Israel to reestablish settlements in Gaza amid the ongoing war there.
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