Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Israel on Saturday of seeking to "blow up" the whole Middle East as he criticized Israel's attacks in Iran and Qatar and opposed calls to annex the West Bank.
"Israel's illegal use of force against the Palestinians and aggressive actions against Iran, Qatar, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq today threaten to blow up the entire Middle East," Lavrov said in a speech to the UN General Assembly.
He lashed out at calls by hard-right allies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the West Bank as a way to kill prospects for an independent Palestinian state.
"There is no justification for plans to annex the West Bank. We are essentially dealing with an attempt at a kind of coup d'etat aimed at burying UN decisions on the creation of a Palestinian state," Lavrov said.
France, Britain and several other Western powers recognized a Palestinian state over the past week, voicing exasperation with Israel's relentless war in Gaza.
The United States, Israel's key supporter, strongly opposed the statehood declaration, but President Donald Trump has also told Netanyahu not to annex the West Bank after Arab partners of the US voiced alarm.
Lavrov mocked the Western recognition of a Palestinian state, saying, "What took them so long?"
Lavrov also accused Western powers of sabotaging diplomacy on Iran through the reimposition of UN sanctions expected within hours.
The rejection of a Russian and Chinese bid to extend the deadline "finally exposed the West's policy of sabotaging the pursuit of constructive solutions in the UN Security Council, as well as its desire to extract unilateral concessions from Tehran through blackmail and pressure," Lavrov said.
He also warned NATO and the European Union that "any aggression against my country will be met with a decisive response."
"Russia is being accused of almost planning to attack the North Atlantic Alliance and European Union countries. President Putin has repeatedly debunked these provocations," Lavrov told the General Assembly.
