Is Netanyahu blackmailing Malta? | Arnold Cassola

The recent drug heist in Safi and the drone attack just outside Maltese waters have highlighted how, with regards to security, our country seems to have been caught with its pants down.

The drone attack on a civilian ship just outside Maltese territorial waters should have had the Maltese government screaming out its condemnation at such a hostile action.

Instead, we have had absolute silence from the Maltese government and also from the European Commission.

The excuse is that the attack happened outside Maltese territorial waters. Yet, everybody seems to ignore that such violent action happened within Malta’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), its Flight Information Region (FIR), and the Search and Rescue (SAR) area—zones where Malta has clear responsibilities.

The least Malta could have done was condemn this threatening act, whoever the perpetrator was.

To crown it all, sources did inform me that the day before the attack, the Maltese government received a note verbale from the Israeli government, demanding that Malta either not allow the humanitarian aid ship, Conscience, into Maltese territorial waters or else, had it been allowed in, not to allow it to sail out again.

Foreign Minister Ian Borg has not denied this.

This drone attack is only part of a bigger picture. My suspicions were aroused in May 2024.

Since 2023, Malta was among four European nations, including Ireland, Norway, and Spain, planning and pressing to recognise Palestine as an independent state when “conditions allow.” Ian Borg was on the forefront of this push.

In March 2024 Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared that Malta would be joining Spain in working towards Palestinian state recognition.

On 14 April 2024, the Maltese government was bragging in New York that “Malta voted in favour of Palestine’s full membersip to the UN, confirming our strong belief in the two state solution”.

And then, in May 2024, the big surprise: Spain, Ireland and Norway announced they were formally recognising Palestine, while Malta was conspicuous by its absence.

Benjamin Netanyahu furiously denounced the decision by Spain, Ireland and Norway as “rewarding terrorism”. These three countries just ignored Netanyahu and went ahead. Malta went unexplainably silent.

At this point, I asked myself what could have happened in the initial months of 2024 for Abela to make this U-turn?

I asked my French, Italian and German counterparts whether something could have happened in the early part of 2024 to abruptly force Malta to halt its position on Palestine.

They pointed out to me that sometime in early 2024 Malta had applied to join the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The application is still pending. And the vote has to be a unanimous vote. Any country can veto Malta’s membership and Israel is a member.

Netanyahu was furious at Spain, Ireland and Norway. Malta chickened out at the last moment, which begs the question: Is Netanyahu blackmailing Malta?

We will probably never know.

In the meantime, a year after Palestine’s recognition by the other three countries, Prime Minister Robert Abela and Ian Borg continue blabbering that they are waiting for the right moment.

Will this be after Netanyahu and Co. have reduced the whole of Gaza to a wasteland?

Arnold Cassola is chairperson of Momentum