Netanyahu reaffirms commitment to demilitarized Palestinian state

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his commitment to the idea of Palestinian self-government in the West Bank, provided that Israel preserve total security control of all territory west of the Jordan river.

Speaking at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America on Wednesday, Netanyahu said that he believed in a solution where the “Palestinians have all the powers to govern themselves and none of the powers to threaten us.”

He related discussions he had with former US Vice President Joe Biden where he said that he was not interested in “labels” such as “two-state solution,” but in the substantive issue of Israeli security and insisted that Israel maintain security control in “the tiny area west of the Jordan.”

Netanyahu asserted that the only reason the West Bank had not become a Hamas-controlled territory from which missiles are launched at Israeli cities, like the Gaza Strip, was because of ongoing Israeli military presence in the territory.

He said that if Israel were to lose security control in the territory, Hamas would overthrow the Palestinian Authority “in a minute.”

The prime minister also said that Israel had thwarted an assassination attempt against PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

Netanyahu also addressed the state of Israels relations with world Jewry, but said that the most serious challenge to Jews in the Diaspora was a loss of Jewish identity amongst Jewish youth, and that great efforts must be made to ensure the survival of the Jewish people outside of Israel.

Speaking at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America, Netanyahu also implicitly blamed the Reform and Conservative movements for disputes over religious concerns in Israel, including prayer rights at the Western Wall and Jewish conversion, due to their legal petitions to the High Court of Justice

During a 40 minute conversation with outgoing JFNA chairman of the board Richard Sandler, Netanyahu waxed lyrical about the strength of US-Israel ties and the ongoing high levels of public support in the US for the Jewish state.

As the interview had concluded, and as he was applauding Sandler for his work, Netanyahu said that he would be remiss if he did not state what he believed was the greatest challenge for the Jewish people.

Netanyahu said that Jewish destiny in the State of Israel was in the hands of the Jewish people.

“What I am concerned with when it comes to the Jewish people is one thing, and that is the loss of identity,” said the prime minister.

“It’s not the question of the [Western] Wall or conversion, that we can overcome, it’s the loss of identity.

Citing an article by Reform Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch calling for concern over the continuity of the Jewish people, Netanyahu said that Jews in the Diaspora must be concerned with Jewish survival.

“Jewish survival is guaranteed in the Jewish state if we defend out state. But we have to also work at the continuity of Jewish communities in the world by developing Jewish education, the study of Hebrew, having young Jews come to Israel,” he said.

“We need to do an approach in the internet age to young Jewish men and women and young Jewish children around the world so that they understand that their own future as Jews depends on continuous identity, and it’s protecting Jewish identity and developing Jewish consciousness that is the most important thing, it touches on the foundations of history.”

Speaking earlier in the conversation about disagreements between the government and the Jewish leadership in North America over the Western Wall, conversion and other concerns, Netanyahu repeated comments he has made in the past that matters of religion and state in Israel evolve over time through a series of compromises to the status quo on such concerns.

The prime minister said that “a series of evolving understandings and compromises” had developed since the inception of the state, but that “challenges on a series of issues in the courts primarily from the Reform movement but also from the Conservatives” had disrupted the status quo on the Western Wall, conversion and other religious issues.

Netanyahu pointed to compromises he has sought over these concerns and said that such understandings with incremental progress were the way forward on religious matters.

“Jewish survival is guaranteed in the Jewish state if we defend out state. But we have to also work at the continuity of Jewish communities in the world by developing Jewish education, the study of Hebrew, having young Jews come to Israel,” he said.

“We need to do an approach in the internet age to young Jewish men and women and young Jewish children around the world so that they understand that their own future as Jews depends on continuous identity, and it’s protecting Jewish identity and developing Jewish consciousness that is the most important thing, it touches on the foundations of history.”

Speaking earlier in the conversation about disagreements between the government and the Jewish leadership in North America over the Western Wall, conversion and other concerns, Netanyahu repeated comments he has made in the past that matters of religion and state in Israel evolve over time through a series of compromises to the status quo on such concerns.

The prime minister said that “a series of evolving understandings and compromises” had developed since the inception of the state, but that “challenges on a series of issues in the courts primarily from the Reform movement but also from the Conservatives” had disrupted the status quo on the Western Wall, conversion and other religious issues.

Netanyahu pointed to compromises he has sought over these concerns and said that such understandings with incremental progress were the way forward on religious matters.

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