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| Mahmoud Abbas - an unrepentant antisemite (JNS) |
My own congressional representative, Jan Schakowsky (who is
Jewish), is a strong supporter of J-Street, an organization that actively
advocates for a two-state solution. One might surmise that the more left-wing
someone is, the more likely they are to support the creation of a Palestinian
state alongside Israel. That is certainly true outside of Israel. But it is no
longer true within Israel.
As Rabbi Natan Slifkin noted in a recent post about
Ben-Gvir:
“The vast majority of Israelis are under no illusions about the Palestinians. There is no ‘Left’ left—it collapsed after the Second Intifada. Pretty much everyone realizes that giving the Palestinians a state would very likely result in disaster. Most Palestinians don’t want to create a peaceful state alongside Israel; they want to fight the ‘injustice’ of 1948 and everything that followed, and get rid of the Jews whom they believe stole their land. In this part of the world, concessions often demonstrate weakness and invite a violent response. There’s nothing Ben-Gvir ‘gets’ about the Palestinians that other Israelis don’t.”
Israelis get it. They know the truth because they live it
every day. For those who didn’t quite realize it before October 7th, they
certainly realize it now.
Yet there are still as few Israelis with good intentions, who believe that not only is a two-state solution possible, but actively promote it. Some Palestinians have even joined them - claiming they would support a sovereign Jewish state if Israel would in turn support a sovereign Palestinian state next to it. An event promoting this idea recently took place in a Reform synagogue in the Tel Aviv suburb of Raanana, where the following occurred:
Right-wing activists rioted outside a Reform synagogue that was screening a joint Israeli-Palestinian ceremony on Israel’s Memorial Day, mobbing and harassing one woman as others exited under police protection.
This is not OK. As naïve and counterproductive as I believe the participants of that event were, attacking them only serves to make them look righteous and the activists look like a gang of criminals.
Besides, as I’ve said many times, I too once believed in a 2-state solution. And that while they may have believed all of Palestine belonged to them, most Palestinians were simply tired of all the suffering and would ultimately settle for peace and prosperity in their own state alongside Israel.
I’ve long since abandoned that belief - reinforced recently by the
words of Gaza Palestinians now enduring the unbearable pain of war - the
destruction of their homes and the loss of thousands of lives. A common theme
among those refugees is that they would rather die in Palestine, their homeland, than
live anywhere else, no matter how much better it might be for them.
This attitude is not just a product of Hamas’s influence.
With very few exceptions this is what most
Palestinians believe.
I’ve been saying for years what was just reported by JNS:
April 22, 2025, may be remembered as a turning point in the history of Israeli public diplomacy—and rightly so. On that day, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs harnessed the power of social media to expose the Palestinian Authority as the enemy it is.
From the official @Israel account on X, a powerful statement was posted: “The Palestinian Authority isn’t educating children, it’s indoctrinating them. Maps without Israel. Teachers praising martyrdom. Textbooks that glorify terror. As long as they teach hate, there’s no hope for peace. Stop ignoring it. Stop funding education that leads to terror.”
By directly attributing responsibility for the deeply rooted antisemitism in PA-controlled areas to Mahmoud Abbas and his co-conspirators, Israel took a vital step toward challenging the dangerous myth that a Palestinian state would bring peace.
I do not doubt that progressives promoting a two-state
solution have the best intentions in
mind for Israel. But how much longer will it take for these well-meaning people
to realize what most Israelis even on the left have come to accept? That a
two-state solution is a prescription for the eventual destruction of the Jewish
state. If not immediately, then sooner rather than later.
It’s gratifying to know that many American supporters—mostly
on the political right—understand this sad reality.
I have no illusions about Europe, where feelings toward
Israel remain tainted by centuries of antisemitism. They will never be
convinced out of blaming Israel (read: the Jews) for the world’s problems. They
are firmly convinced that the Palestinians want peace, and that it’s the Jews
who are standing in the way with their so-called ‘apartheid’ policies.
But when will left-wing American supporters of Israel who are
not antisemitic finally come to their senses? When will they listen to their
Israeli counterparts who have abandoned the two-state solution?
That needs to happen if we are ever going to make genuine
progress toward a legitimate peace. One where Palestinian Arabs can enjoy the
same peace and prosperity as Israeli Jews. Just as Israeli Arabs already do. That
can only happen if Palestinians completely overhaul what they teach their
children now and instead reinforce non hateful peaceful values from cradle to grave.
How that can be done is beyond my pay grade. Honestly, it
seems like an impossible task. But that is the only path forward. And it will
take a generation or two to get there.
Until then, the status quo must prevail.
