Smotrich lauds Trump for ‘courage, integrity’ in apparent rejection of 2-state solution
‘A Palestinian state would be a terrorist state,’ far-right minister says after former US president tells Time magazine he thinks ‘two states is going to be very, very tough’
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday commended former US president Donald Trump for expressing skepticism over the feasibility of a two-state solution, praising the presidential hopeful for “going back on his support for the establishment of a Palestinian state.”
In a wide-ranging interview with Time magazine published this week, Trump said, “There was a time when I thought two states could work. Now I think two states is going to be very, very tough.”
“A Palestinian state would be a terrorist state that would endanger the existence of Israel and the international pressure to establish it is an injustice on a historical scale,” the far-right Smotrich said in response to Trump’s comments. “I hope and pray that more leaders in the world will discover the courage and integrity shown by presidential candidate Trump to change their position.”
Other right-wing members of the government have expressed support for Trump and criticism of US President Joe Biden in recent months. In February, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said that “if Trump were in power, the US’s conduct would be completely different,” while Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu warned that Biden “is leading us to a disaster.”
Last week, Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli declared that if he were American he would vote for Trump.
Despite the outspoken support from cabinet ministers, Trump has been highly critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, telling Time that the premier has “rightfully been criticized” for failing to prevent the massive October 7 Hamas attack, , which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostage amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
“They have the most sophisticated equipment,” Trump said of Israel. “They had — everything was there to stop that. And a lot of people knew about it, you know, thousands and thousands of people knew about it, but Israel didn’t know about it, and I think he’s being blamed for that very strongly, being blamed.”
The attack “should have never happened,” said Trump, though he fell short of endorsing Netanyahu’s main opponent, centrist party National Unity chair Benny Gantz. “I think Benny Gantz is good, but I’m not prepared to say that. I haven’t spoken to him about it. But you have some very good people that I’ve gotten to know in Israel that could do a good job.”
Netanyahu himself doubled down on his opposition to the establishment of a full-fledged Palestinian state, in a video message in January.
“I will not compromise on full Israeli security control over all the territory west of the Jordan [River],” he said, saying that he had withstood international and domestic pressure over the years to move toward a two-state solution.
“As long as I am prime minister, I will continue to firmly stand by this,” he pledged.
Biden’s administration has been calling for the war in Gaza to wind down alongside a pathway toward a two-state solution at the end of the fight. It has also been working intensively on a deal that would see Saudi Arabia normalize ties with Israel in exchange for security agreements with the US and a commitment toward a Palestinian state.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
