Netanyahu boasts of thwarting the establishment of a Palestinian state ‘for decades’
PM says his opposition to Palestinian statehood has only intensified since Oct. 7, vows Israel to ‘maintain full security control over all territory west of the Jordan River’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said he would introduce legislation to match the cabinet decision rejecting “international diktats” seeking to push Palestinian statehood — boasting of his decades of thwarting any such move.
In a video statement, Netanyahu said Israel has for months resisted international calls to halt the war in Gaza against Hamas but is now facing new pressures, in particular “an attempt to force upon us the unilateral establishment of a Palestinian state which will endanger the existence of the State of Israel.”
“We flat out reject this,” he said.
After passing unanimously in the cabinet, where he noted “different opinions for a permanent arrangement,” Netanyahu said he was certain the Knesset legislation will receive wide support, “show[ing] the world that there is wide agreement in Israel against the international efforts to force on us a Palestinian state.”
The prime minister added that “everyone knows that I am the one who for decades blocked the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger our existence.”
His position, he asserted, only strengthened following Hamas’s October 7 massacre, and Netanyahu said that “no matter what, Israel will maintain full security control over all territory west of the Jordan River,” including both Gaza and the West Bank.
The text of the premier’s proposal is identical to the motion approved Sunday by the cabinet, which declares unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state “would be a massive and unprecedented reward to terrorism and would foil any future peace settlement.”

Israel has pushed back hard against international pressure for progress on a Palestinian state, following recent reports that the US and several Arab partners were preparing a detailed plan for a comprehensive peace deal that includes a “firm timeline” for a Palestinian state.
“We have never said there should be a unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state,” US Ambassador Jack Lew said Sunday evening at a Jerusalem conference of US Jewish leaders, downplaying talk of such a move by the Biden administration. Instead, he called for an “over-the-horizon process that includes a vision for a demilitarized Palestinian state.
“Now is a moment in time when there is a real possibility that by engaging in normalization and negotiations with Saudi Arabia” along with reforms in the Palestinian Authority, “there can be a demilitarized Palestinian state. But Israel will have to make that choice,” Lew said.
Netanyahu has in the past spoken out against the creation of a Palestinian state and others have also pushed back against comments from Washington and elsewhere suggesting that talks on ending fighting in Gaza sparked by Hamas’s brutal rampage through southern Israel on October 7 be used to jumpstart long-moribund efforts to reach a two-state solution.
While some international actors believe the violence only underlines the need for a peace deal, Israeli leaders argue the attack highlighted the extreme danger of an autonomous Palestinian entity near its population centers. And amid soaring support for Hamas among Palestinians in the wake of the atrocities, there appears to be little appetite in the Israeli public for peace efforts.