U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pushed the Biden administration’s priority of establishing a Palestinian state at the end of the current war against Hamas in his meetings with Israeli leaders on Tuesday, according to multiple media reports.
The Biden administration has insisted that a Palestinian state be part of the resolution of the war, though that would effectively reward Hamas for carrying out the mass murder, rape, and kidnapping of Israeli civilians in its October 7 terror attack on Israel.
Support for a Palestinian state has plummeted among Israelis since the war began. Many of the victims of the attack were kibbutz residents who are on the Israeli left; some of them were peace activists who had volunteered their time to help Palestinians from Gaza.
However, they were murdered and kidnapped just the same, and many Israeli survivors have spoken of their horror at knowing that Palestinian civilians were participating in the carnage and looting, and that Palestinian workers had led Hamas to targets.
Israel’s Arab neighbors have also shown less interest in a Palestinian state. Prior to the war, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, suggested that Saudi-Israel peace would not depend on Palestinian statehood. Nevertheless, according to Israel’s Channel 12 (via the Times of Israel), the Biden administration is now reviving a defunct 2002 Saudi proposal to create a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza on the territory that Israel took from Egypt and Jordan in a defensive war in 1967.
According to the U.S. State Department, Blinken brought up a Palestinian state during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s War Cabinet:
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met today with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli War Cabinet in Tel Aviv. The Secretary reaffirmed our support for Israel’s right to prevent the terrorist attacks of October 7 from being repeated and stressed the importance of avoiding further civilian harm and protecting civilian infrastructure in Gaza. The Secretary and Prime Minister discussed ongoing efforts to secure the release of all remaining hostages and the importance of increasing the level of humanitarian assistance reaching civilians in Gaza. In this regard, the Secretary welcomed the appointment of Sigrid Kaag as the UN’s Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, pledging close cooperation with her in this new capacity. The Secretary reiterated the need to ensure lasting, sustainable peace for Israel and the region, including by the realization of a Palestinian state.
Blinken also met with President Isaac Herzog and defense minister Yoav Gallant.
Gallant reportedly told Blinken that Israel intends to intensify the fight in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, until it as eliminated the Hamas leaders and freed the remaining Israeli hostages, more than 120 of whom are thought to be captive there.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the 2021 e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now updated with a new foreword. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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