By Nadav Tamir
Executive Director of J Street
From The Times of Israel
4 Oct 2025
Former Israeli Defence Minister and current opposition leader Benny Gantz, in his New York Times op-ed, ‘What the World Gets Wrong About Israel’, exposes Times readers to one of the central flaws of Israeli politics – the fact that, throughout his long years in office, Netanyahu has managed to shape Israel’s political discourse in his own image.
Gantz is correct in noting that the Knesset – Israel’s parliament – voted by a sweeping majority against recognising a Palestinian state. But that overwhelming majority, which sided with the right in this and other votes, stems first and foremost from the deep-rooted fear among most opposition leaders of challenging Netanyahu’s political narrative.
This ostrich-like policy is evident already at the beginning of Gantz’s op-ed, where he writes, “But the nation’s core security interests are not partisan property.”
Gantz lives in Israel; he hears Government ministers openly say they want to make the Gaza Strip unlivable for Palestinians so they will leave, fantasising about a “real estate bonanza” in the Strip or about the new neighbourhoods they plan to build there. He knows that it is not a genuine security interest driving the Government to continue occupying Gaza but rather a lust for conquest promoted by the far-right religious extremists who control the Government and, by extension, Netanyahu’s future.Ganz has called for a deal to release hostages, even at the price of a ceasefire. Yet none of this stops him from closing his eyes and writing about a false “security consensus” that he knows does not exist.
While avoiding direct criticism of Netanyahu, the Israeli opposition leader focuses most of his attacks on the heads of state who have recognised a Palestinian state, accusing them of allowing their disdain for Netanyahu to lead them into actions that compromise Israel’s security.
As an Israeli citizen, a former officer in the IDF, and someone who has devoted his life to diplomacy and representing Israel’s interests, I can confidently say the opposite is true. Israelis should be thanking the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Belgium, Portugal and all the states that have joined in recognising a Palestinian state – 156 out of the United Nations’ 193 member states, including 15 of the G20 nations.
Delay in recognition and involvement only helped block progress towards an agreement
The war in Gaza has made clear to the world that what happens in Gaza does not stay in Gaza but affects politics and stability across the Middle East and the globe. The traditional stance – that the world would help Israelis and Palestinians resolve the conflict only when they will be “ready” – gave the opponents of a political agreement, in both Israel and Palestine, the chance to block progress, and they took full advantage of it. The idea that a Palestinian state should be established only at the end of negotiations has similarly allowed Israeli right-wing Governments to prevent its creation.
The proper framework is for a Palestinian state to be established by the world – just as Israel was established by the UN, and just as Kosovo came into being not through negotiations with Serbia, but despite Serbia’s opposition.
A Palestinian state is not an Israeli gift – and it must be made a reality
The current wave of recognition will not itself bring about the actual establishment of a Palestinian state. To reach that, the matter must pass through the Security Council, where Trump’s United States will exercise its veto. But this broad international recognition brings us closer to the day when the US – the only country still blocking recognition in the Council – will eventually join the global consensus, once a Democratic administration replaces Trump.
Contrary to the lies of the coalition and the cowardice of some in the opposition, like Gantz, who portray recognition of a Palestinian state as a “reward for Hamas,” the truth is precisely the opposite. The reward is first and foremost for us, the citizens of Israel. We Israelis need a Palestinian state no less than the Palestinians do, because such a state would free us from the burden of occupation. The burden has been eroding us for decades and, in the past year, has become unbearable, dragging us into moral and political depths and endangering Israel itself.
A Palestinian state would ensure that we can continue to realise the vision of Israel as the democratic nation-state of the Jewish people and all its citizens. Without it, we will be forced to choose between apartheid and transfer – two paths that would make the state we so love even more of a pariah in the world and unliveable for many of us.
The broad recognition of a Palestinian state is already creating a shift in consciousness: a Palestinian state is not dependent on Israel’s goodwill and is not some “gift” that Israel grants to the Palestinians. This mental shift is also reflected in the crucial distinction, shared by Arab states and the Palestinian Authority – between Hamas terrorists, for whom the two-state vision is a nightmare, and the overwhelming majority of the Palestinian people.
Still, recognition alone is not enough; conditions must be created for making it real. That means strengthening moderate Palestinian actors and the Palestinian economy and, of course, applying significant pressure on Netanyahu’s Government to end the war and pursue a regional normalisation process in which a demilitarised Palestinian state would play a central role.
This will not be easy with Trump in the White House, as he still appears not to grasp the damage Netanyahu is causing – primarily to Israel, but also to American interests and to Trump himself, who openly dreams of winning the Nobel Peace Prize. If the world outside the US unites and invests in the effort to stop the war and advance normalisation, change will be possible – a change that ensures Israel’s security and builds a foundation for regional and international cooperation against forces seeking to destabilise the region in the name of jihadist or messianic visions.
Therefore, the democratic forces inside Israel that care about Israel’s future and about ending the occupation must take action to bring about a dramatic change in Israeli policy. It is time for Israel’s political leadership to stop fearing a Palestinian state and instead lead the Israeli public to understand that it is Israel’s lifeline, the key to preserving Israel as the democratic nation-state of the Jewish people, and to building a life of equality for all its citizens, Jews and non-Jews alike.
Nadav Tamir is the executive director of J Street Israel, a member of the board of the Mitvim think-tank, adviser for international affairs at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation and member of the steering committee of the Geneva Initiative. He was an adviser of President Shimon Peres and served in the Israel embassy in Washington and as consul general to New England.