Netanyahu faces far-right backlash after US-backed statement on Palestinian independence
The statement indicating support for a pathway to a Palestinian state infuriated Netanyahu’s conservative and ultranationalist allies
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel remained opposed to a Palestinian state after protests by far-right coalition allies over a US-backed statement indicating support for a pathway to Palestinian independence.
Netanyahu spoke two days after Israel’s key ally the United States and many Muslim-majority nations endorsed a draft UN resolution backing US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, saying the process offered a route to Palestinian statehood.
The 15-member UN Security Council began negotiations on November 7 on the draft, which would mandate Trump’s proposal for a “Board of Peace” transitional administration in Gaza to address issues including post-war reconstruction and economic recovery.
Trump’s 20-point plan includes a clause saying that if there were reforms within the Palestinian Authority, “the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, which we recognise as the aspiration of the Palestinian people”.
That point infuriated Israeli far-right leaders who had opposed the Trump-brokered October ceasefire in Gaza, testing Netanyahu’s awkward governing coalition of conservatives and ultranationalists.
On Saturday, far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich called on Netanyahu to denounce the idea of a Palestinian state. Ben-Gvir threatened to leave the governing coalition if the prime minister did not act.