By: Express Web DeskNew Delhi | Updated: September 15, 2025 09:22 PM IST 3 min readIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference at the Prime minister's office in Jerusalem (Photo/AP)Nearly two years after Israel launched the widely condemned military operation in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has admitted that his country is facing economic isolation.Speaking at a conference of the Israeli Finance Ministry’s accountant general in Jerusalem on Monday, Netanyahu also stressed the importance of self-reliance, in the field of defence.Israel need to be self-reliant“I am a supporter of the free market, but we may find ourselves in a situation where our arms industries are blocked. We will need to develop arms industries here — not only research and development, but also the ability to produce what we need,” Netanyahu said, according to The Times of Israel.Netanyahu blames Muslim immigrantsThe Israeli PM blamed the migration of Muslim immigrants to Europe for “bending the governments” in an anti-Israel direction and leading them to cancel defense deals with his country. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visit the Western Wall Tunnels, in Jerusalem’s Old City. (Photo: AP)‘Qatar, China leading campaign against Israel’Later in the day, while speaking to a delegation of 250 US state legislators at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, Netanyahu repeated his claims and blamed China and Qatar for ‘leading a campaign in Western media to besiege Israel by eroding the support of its allies.“One is China. And the other is Qatar. They are organizing an attack on Israel… [through] the social media of the Western world and the United States. We will have to counter it, and we will counter it with our own methods,” he said.According to Netanyahu, Israel is working to remove the political blockade.Story continues below this ad“Have they achieved global isolation? No. The US is with us, as are many other countries. But we do currently have a problem centered in Western Europe, and we are working and will continue to work to remove this blockade,” he said.Israel’s growing isolation over war in GazaNetanyahu’s unusual admission comes at a time when an increasing number of countries, including allies and many in the West, are becoming increasingly critical of Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.While the US continues to throw its weight behind Israel, many others, including the UK have been distancing themselves. Israeli soldiers work on their tanks and armored personnel carriers at a staging area on the border with Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel. (Photo: AP)Though the UK has stopped short of calling the Israeli actions in Gaza ‘genocide’, the Ministry of Defense has decided it will no longer admit Israelis to one of its most prestigious defense academies, the Royal College of Defence Studies.A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense told The Telegraph that Israel’s actions in Gaza were “wrong,” and that the government had decided to withhold access to the college as a result.Story continues below this adThe UK is among several Western nations that have pledged to recognise the state of Palestine, while Spain had recently issued an arms embargo on Israel over the war in Gaza.Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd