WHILE YOU STAND ON ONE LEG: It was suggested to me this week that I’m “obsessed” with opposing “the two-state solution.” If I am, it’s in response to our American President, Secretary of State and Ambassador to Israel obsessively pushing it. Israelis appreciate the grave threat to the Jewish homeland it is. We American Jews have to appreciate that Israelis’ appreciation of that peril is realistic and real.
“Obsessed with ‘Two-States’”? Not Me, It’s Messrs. Biden, Blinken & Nides
Among the [greatly appreciated] longtime readers of these weekly emails of mine are a number of fellow pro-Israel folks who let me know now and again that their own views on Israel are sometimes different from mine. A big point of difference these days is on “the two-state solution,” to which I’ve referred now and again in these weekly emails and to which I’m firmly opposed. One of these readers emailed me this week, suggesting I cool it:
“There won’t be serious pressure about a ‘two-state’ solution in our lifetime or in the lifetime of our children. So stop obsessing over it.”
I replied:
“It’s not me. It’s EVERYONE ELSE BUT ISRAELIS obsessing over it.” [emphasis original]
Alas, it is, by most of the world. Here’s some “serious pressure” these days from our American President, Secretary of State and Ambassador to Israel.
Biden
Times of Israel, 9/21/22, At UN, Biden Reaffirms Commitment to Two-State Solution for Israelis, Palestinians, reported that on that day “US President Biden reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to the two-state solution” in his address to the UN General Assembly, thereby “reiterating the same talking point the Biden administration has used regarding its policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since it took office,” which would “give the Palestinians a state to which they are entitled.” So nu, does “reaffirmed his administration’s commitment … reiterating the same talking point … since it took office” rise to “obsessed”? By me, it does.
And here’s Axios’ lede on 7/15/22, Biden Backs Two-State Solution Along 1967 Lines To End Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
“President Biden stressed in a speech after his meeting with Palestinian [Authority] President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem on Friday that a two-state solution based on the 1967 lines with agreed upon land swaps is the best way to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians.”
Understand clearly what “based on the 1967 [i.e., 1949] lines with agreed upon land swaps” means. It means – Palestine Mandate and even UNSC 242 be damned – that Israel and the Jewish people have zero homeland equity in historic Jerusalem [Temple Mount, Western Wall, City of David and all] and in Judea-Samaria, that every inch of historic Jerusalem and Judea-Samaria that they get has to be paid for in west-of-the-old-green-line territory.
Blinken
Aljazeera last week, 11/5/22, US Again Backs Two-State Solution in Call to Palestinian Leader; The US Secretary of State Reaffirms US Commitment to a Two-State Solution in Call with President Mahmoud Abbas, reported that Blinken “’further reaffirmed our commitment to a two-state solution, which envisions an independent state of Palestine alongside Israel.”
That same day last week Times of Israel headlined: With Far Right Ascendant in Israel, Blinken Tells Abbas US Committed to 2 States. It quoted State Department spokesman Ned Price that Blinken “further reaffirmed our commitment to a two-state solution,” which TOI called “a noteworthy statement,” given that Israel “looks set to usher in its most right-wing government.”
Nides
Here’s JNS in Jewish Link, 9/8/22, headlined US Ambassador: Two-State Solution Needed to Ensure Israel Remains a Jewish and Democratic Country, on Amb. Nides:
“(JNS) U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides said it is his guiding principle to advance a two-state solution with the Palestinians, because failure to do so is making it difficult to ensure his ‘North Star’ of “maintaining Israel as both a Jewish and democratic state.
“Speaking to reporters at a briefing in Jerusalem, Nides noted that President Biden ‘articulated very clearly his support for a two-state solution’ on his recent trip to Israel, and that ‘every speech that I give, Secretary (of State Antony) Blinken gives, that the President gives, that (Vice President) Kamala Harris gives, all reference that.’”
If Not Obsession, Then What?
“… guiding principle … North Star … every speech that I give, Secretary Blinken gives, that the President gives, that Kamala Harris gives, all reference” two-states. If not obsession, then what?
So What?
A fortnight ago in #1136, I cited Dr. Martin Sherman’s article Into the Fray: The Perils of Palestine: A Multi-Dimensional Menace to Israel, detailing the grave geographical dangers to Israel of a western Palestine Arab state. And one along “the 1967 lines,” championed by inter alia Biden, Blinken & Nides, would hand over most-sacred-to-Jews historic Jerusalem, which “the Palestinians” have never ruled ever, to them. Ex-PM Bennett: “There is no place for another country between Jordan and the Sea.” Israelis, QED, understand that.
American Jews must abandon what major American Jewish institutions, including the Reform and Conservative movements, rabbis and all, wrote to President Trump, calling for a “two-state solution” with borders that “hew precisely” to “the 1967 borders,” i.e., 1949 ceasefire lines expressly declared in their defining document not to be borders, save for mutually agreed “territorial adjustments” thereto. Most of the rest of the world denies Jewish homeland equity over the old green line, even in historic Jerusalem (see, e.g., UNSC Resolution 2334). On this most consequential of issues, we American Jews have to stand by our homeland and people. And if not us, given the “two-states” position of most of the rest of the world, who?