The Lessons Of Oct. 7 - 'A Palestinian State Is Like Committing Suicide'

For Israel to allow the creation of a Palestinian state would be tantamount to national suicide, Knesset member Ariel Kallner (Likud) told JNS on Thursday.

"And we are finished with committing suicide," he added.

Kallner's remarks came shortly after a poll found that for the first time in nearly 18 years, a majority of Israeli Jews oppose the two-state solution.

"I would have been surprised if the poll results were different after our experience with the Palestinian state in Gaza," said Kallner. "Prior to Oct. 7, 2023, Gaza was a Palestinian state, and we know what the result was for southern Israel, the ensuing difficult war and the challenging times we now live in," he said.

"We know 80% of the people living in the Palestinian pseudo-state in Judea and Samaria support Hamas's Oct. 7 massacre. No one in the so-called moderate Palestinian Authority--who present themselves as moderate in contrast to Hamas--no one, not one official, condemned the massacre," he added. 

Of the 804 Jews polled in the "Swords of Iron Survey Results--December 2024" survey by Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), 64% opposed the creation of a Palestinian state "under any condition," compared to 23% who said they supported it "under certain conditions." The remaining 13% said they didn't know. Among the 205 Arabs polled, the distribution was 12%, 59% and 29% respectively.

Within the total sample of 1,009 Jewish and Arab respondents, 54% opposed the creation of any Palestinian state under any circumstances compared to 30% who supported it.

Religious Zionism Party MK Simcha Rothman, on the other hand, expressed surprise at the survey results.

"This number surprises me because it is way lower than what I have seen in other surveys, which show even higher objection to a Palestinian state," he told JNS on Thursday. "The real number I believe is more like 70% or 80%, and those who support a Palestinian state are mostly Arabs in Israel," he said.

"I think it was always the case, and definitely after Oct. 7 people understood what happens when you allow the supporters of terror to have a state near your borders," he continued. 

"As for the Arabs who support that state, they either don't see it as a threat to our country, don't understand the threat, or some of them support terror, sadly. We know that the elected representation of the Arab population in Israel is not condemning Hamas and is not condemning terror; some of them even openly support Hamas," Rothman said.  

He noted the widespread support for the Knesset's decision in July to adopt a resolution against a Palestinian state.

"The only people who objected to this resolution were from the Arab parties," Rothman said.

In July, the Knesset plenum voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The resolution, put forward by MK Ze'ev Elkin of the New Hope-National Right Party with support from the Yisrael Beiteinu Party and the Land of Israel Caucus, passed by 68 to 9.

The resolution states: "The Israeli Knesset opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state on any piece of land west of the Jordan River. The existence of a Palestinian state in the heart of Israel will pose an existential threat to the State of Israel and its citizens, will further extend the Israel-Palestinian Arab conflict and be a source of destabilization for the entire region.

"It will be only a matter of time before Hamas takes over such a Palestinian state and turns it into a base for radical Islamic terrorism in full alignment with the Iranian regime that aims to eradicate the State of Israel," it continues.

Last February, the Knesset plenum voted 99-11 to back the Cabinet's decision to reject any unilateral recognition of Palestinian statehood, amid reports the Biden administration was considering such a move.

All coalition lawmakers and most members of the opposition Yesh Atid, National Unity and Yisrael Beiteinu parties voted in favor of supporting a Cabinet statement against "international diktats regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians."

The Labor Party boycotted the vote and its members were not in attendance. The Arab parties voted against the measure.

Likud Party lawmaker Boaz Bismuth on Thursday echoed Rothman's surprise, telling JNS: "I thought it would be 99.9% against."

The INSS figure "looks like it's out of some science fiction book, since every logical person knows that after Oct. 7 what we need is stability and security. As the head of the Knesset Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, I traveled to Rome and Montreal and I saw that it is also the desire of NATO members to reach stability and security in every region," he said. 

"We are not in a fantasy land, and I ask the remaining 36% who do not [oppose a Palestinian state] to explain how the creation of a Palestinian state would not pose a threat to them," Bismuth said.

Twenty-five MKs are spearheading a bill that would extend Israel's Basic Law: Referendum to apply to all territories held by Israel, including Judea, Samaria and the country's territorial waters.

The Knesset Land of Israel Caucus, whose mission is to strengthen Israeli control of Judea and Samaria, is seeking to amend the semi-constitutional law to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Basic Law: Referendum, which the Knesset adopted in a 68-0 vote in 2014, states that a government decision to withdraw from territory under Israeli jurisdiction needs to be approved by a majority in a referendum unless an 80-vote supermajority has been achieved in the 120-member legislature. It applies to territories of the State of Israel within the Green Line as well as to eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.

The proposed legislation, dubbed the "Israel Security Bill," clarifies that "all areas of the historic Land of Israel and territorial waters" fall under the referendum law, the leaders of the Land of Israel Caucus explained.

The bill, which is expected to be submitted soon, also seeks to rectify the loophole that allowed then-Prime Minister Yair Lapid to sign the 2022 agreement with Lebanon that ceded territorial waters to it without seeking approval from the Knesset or calling a referendum.

Lapid argued that he had acted legally, as the Basic Law did not apply to the waters, economic or territorial, under Israel's control. The Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, sided with the government, rejecting several petitions against the maritime agreement.

Knesset member Naor Shiri, from Lapid's Yesh Atid Party, which is currently in the opposition, told JNS on Thursday, "It's hard to believe in peace after Oct. 7. That day marked a turning point for many Israelis. The severe violence, the rape, the abuse, and the kidnapping of civilians from their beds or from the Nova music festival, along with the deep wounds it left, have made the idea of coexistence nearly impossible.

"Trust has been completely shattered, and the fear, anger and trauma from such events make it difficult to imagine a future where peace is truly attainable. This is a reality that transcends political camps in Israeli society, especially given the fact that there are still 99 hostages being held in Gaza," he added.

Originally published at JNS.org