(TPS) Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz blasted the European Union following critical remarks on Israel’s human rights record, saying the organization could “go to a thousand hells.”

Earlier this week, European Union spokesperson Maja Kocijancic called on Israel to investigate an incident in which Jafar Farah, director of the NGO Mossawa, the Advocacy Centre for Arab Citizens in Israel, claimed he had his leg broken by police during a demonstration against the deaths of dozens of Palestinians in events on the Gaza border on May 14.

The EU statement also called on Israel not to deport Omar Shakir, the local director for Human Rights Watch. Israel has revoked the U.S. citizen’s entry permit and ordered him to leave the country for his alleged support of boycotts against Israel.

Steinitz accused the EU of “chutzpah and hypocrisy,” saying that the organization “sucked up to Iran” and would help Tehran in the face of newly imposed American sanctions.

“Iran executes and tortures homosexuals, harms women’s rights, supports terrorism and the regime of [Syrian President Bashar] Assad who uses chemical weapons against his own people, and they [the EU] pick on us?” Steinitz said in an interview with the 103 FM radio station.