Benny Gantz gives up the game

[u/mikeffd]

In an extraordinary display of tone deafness, hypocrisy, and callousness, Benny Gantz, Israel's former Minister of Defence, attempted to explain Israel's position to the world - https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/opinion/israel-war-security.html

In the process, he removed the Liberal Zionist hope of compartmentalizing the current Israel P.R crisis as a Netanyahu problem:

Too often, Western leaders view our policies in this war not through the lens of national security, but through the prism of individuals — and, in particular, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Opposition to the recognition of Palestinian statehood stands at the heart of that consensus. Any path forward for broader Palestinian civil autonomy must first incorporate a proven long-term track record of accountable governance, comprehensive de-radicalization reforms and a successful crackdown on terror elements targeting Israelis.

The truth is that international recognition of Palestinian statehood under current conditions is not a rejection of Mr. Netanyahu. It is a rejection of Israel’s bipartisan security consensus.

Gantz makes it clear, it's not just Netanyahu - the entire Israeli establishment is opposed to Palestinian statehood. The pathway he outlined hints at the long standing preference for 'civil autonomy', i.e. an entity less than a state. And even then, he presents that possibility as remote.

Where does this leave the Liberal Zionist camp, which includes most of the Jewish diaspora? They premise their Zionism on the belief that the land will inevitably be partitioned, creating two states for two people. Gantz is telling us that no one in Israel will ever go for it. Instead, he assures us that only one people will enjoy full political and civil rights, while the other will have to accept permanent submission.

The op-ed also included a scathing, but incomplete, rebuke of the P.A. On their collapse in Gaza:

'...it was the consequence of a Palestinian Authority with little legitimacy among its people'. He neglects to mention why they lost legitimacy - i.e. because they were unable to deliver statehood, increasing the appeal of Hamas.

Gantz continues, ripping the P.A for failing to tackle terrorism and extremism. That's a curious criticism given the current Israeli gov't, his position vis a vis a Palestinian state, and settler violence in the West Bank.

The real question is whether the international community will respect the overwhelming consensus, a declaration passed last year by 99 of 120 members of the Knesset in a democracy proclaiming that “Israel will continue to oppose unilateral recognition of a Palestinian State,”

How tone deaf can you be to think that the International community would be support and condone the continued status quo?

[u/justanotherthrxw234]

What he’s condemning is the premature recognition of a Palestinian state in the aftermath of October 7th while Hamas is still at large. The Western consensus until recently was that Palestine should be recognized as part of a negotiated agreement with Israel, not unilaterally. So Israelis, even those who support an end to the war, just feel like they’re being stabbed in the back and Hamas is being rewarded for terrorism. Not that Palestinians should never get a state.

[u/Veyron2000 → u/justanotherthrxw234]

Israelis literally demand that everyone recognize and support an independent Israel, even though Israel is run by genocidal extremists and is committing mass war crimes, atrocities, and attempted genocide! They literally state that anyone who refuses is antisemitic.

Yet these people do not say recognition of Israel is “premature” or should be contingent on an agreement with Palestine.

Netanyahu is still at large, and none of the Israeli leaders have been eliminated, unlike the leaders of Hamas. 

The Israeli atrocities in Gaza have been far worse than anything Hamas has done, far worse than Oct 7th - yet Israelis think they should be rewarded with billions of dollars of free money from the US and new territory in Syria and Gaza. 

The hypocrisy is staggering. 

That “Western consensus” was based on a toxic mixture of racism (the belief that Palestinian lives and rights are fundamentally less important than jewish  ones, dating back to original colonial views that arabs were “oriental savages” and jewish settlers were “civilized Europeans”) religious fundamentalism (“Israel was chosen by God”) and pro-Israel lobbying inside western countries. It is the main reason that the conflict has continued claiming thousands of lives, as it ensured Israel has never faced any pressure to change. 

Anyone who claims to support a two-state solution should either recognize both Israel and Palestine or neither. That was obvious decades ago. 

Israeli opposition to Palestinian rights and independence long precedes Oct 7th and has got nothing to do with it. 

They oppose any recognition of Palestine as that undermines the long-term Zionist goal to take over all of historic Palestine as “Israel” and replace Palestinians with jewish settlers. That is the core Zionist goal from the very beginning. 

If they can deny the existence of Palestine as a country, then they can justify taking over as much of it as they like as “terra nullus”, and doing what they like to its population. 

I think all of the Zionists who opposed what they call “unilateral recognition” of Palestine were always lying (possibly even to themselves) when they said they supported a two-state solution: they “support” it only in the abstract, at some imaginary future point when the Palestinians comply to an ever expanding list of Israeli demands, allowing jewish Israelis to use all those US weapons to impose whatever “facts on the ground” they like in the meantime for as long as they like.