U.S. President Joe Biden’s attempt to merely nudge Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s regarding a Palestinian state as part of a peace settlement, in the direction of a not-really-sovereign state of Palestine, caused quite a dustup in Israel last night on Jan. 20. Further, it exposed, once again, the reality of the dirty arrangement Netanyahu has with his coalition partners, the thoroughly racist, blood and soil National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
First was Netanyahu’s attempt to put out the fire, with a rare Sabbath statement from Office of the Prime Minister: “In his conversation last night with President Biden, Prime Minister Netanyahu repeated his consistent position for years, which he also expressed at a press conference the day before: After the elimination of Hamas, Israel must remain in full security control of the Gaza Strip to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel—and this conflicts with demands for Palestinian sovereignty.”
The “blood and soil” pair were not satisfied. The Times of Israel reported that Smotrich, posted on X that establishing a Palestinian state would bring on “the next massacre,” and the White House must “wise up on the concepts that led to [this] national disaster in Israel.” Ben-Gvir added his post: “I do rule out a Palestinian state, always.”
