Netanyahu Hosts Europe's Patriots and a New Jerusalem Branch

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister Miri Regev met a delegation from the Patriots group at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, according to the readout issued by the office on 25 January 2026. The delegation was made up of members of parliament from Hungary, Austria, Spain and France.

The readout said the two thanked the delegation, describing its members as friends of the Jewish people, for what it called their steadfast support for Israel and their insistence on sovereignty in their own countries and on the safeguarding of borders and national identity. Regev introduced Netanyahu to the Patriots of Jerusalem, described in the statement as the first Israeli branch that will join the European Patriots group.

What the Patriots group is

Patriots for Europe is a political group in the European Parliament. It was announced on 30 June 2024 at a press conference in Vienna by the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban, the former Czech prime minister Andrej Babis and the Austrian Freedom Party, whose parties signed a manifesto promising “peace, security and development” in place of what they called the “war, migration and stagnation” of the Brussels establishment, Al Jazeera reported.

The group was formally constituted on 8 July 2024 with Jordan Bardella of France's National Rally as its president, and holds 85 of the European Parliament's 720 seats, making it the assembly's third-largest faction, according to a reference profile of the group. The same profile lists its members from the four countries represented in Jerusalem as National Rally in France, Fidesz in Hungary, the Freedom Party in Austria and Vox in Spain.

What Netanyahu told them

The readout quoted Netanyahu at length. “The Western Judeo-Christian civilization is under attack,” he said, describing an effort carried out not by radical Islam alone but in what he called collaboration with “the deep radical left and the Islamists, who in theory should be rivals, but are united by one thing – the hatred of Israel and the Jews.”

He went on to say that many European countries had been “numb” and had opened their borders “with no supervision whatsoever” over a long period, and told the visitors that Israel and their movements were “not just allies and comrades-in-arms” but “brothers and sisters in the decisive struggle for the future of the world.” The gravest danger facing the world, he added, was the link between militant Islam and nuclear weapons.

A further set of remarks issued with the readout, and attributed by Israel Today to Regev, called the meeting “proof that Israel is not alone” and described ties with the European Patriots as a strategic move against attempts at boycott and delegitimisation.

What an Israeli branch would be joining

The alliance was launched in the week Hungary took over the European Union's rotating presidency, which began on 1 July 2024, Al Jazeera reported, and further parties signed up over the days that followed. The four delegations represented at the Jerusalem meeting are among the group's largest blocs: National Rally holds 29 of its seats, Fidesz ten, the Freedom Party of Austria six and Vox six, according to the same reference profile. Between them the four account for 51 of the group's 85 seats.

What the statement did not say

The readout named no member of the visiting delegation, gave no numbers and did not identify the parties they belong to. It did not say who is behind Patriots of Jerusalem, how it is constituted, or what joining the European group would involve. Nor did it record anything the visitors said in the room.