Netanyahu was speaking after Thursday's deadly attack on Israeli embassy staff in Washington. Days earlier, the UK, France and Canada had condemned Israel's expanded offensive in Gaza as "disproportionate" and described the humanitarian situation as "intolerable".

Netanyahu branded the killings as "a despicable act of hatred, of antisemitism" and drew an explicit link with the increasingly hostile climate facing Israel over the war in Gaza, which has ranged from campus protests to accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday appointed a new head of the Shin-Bet domestic intelligence agency, ignoring his own attorney general’s legal guidance and exacerbating a weeks-long battle over the previous chief’s ouster.