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DeSantis: Two-State Solution ‘Stepping Stone’ to End of Israel
Illustrative. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaking at the Christians United for Israel Summit, 17 July, 2023 (Photo: Screenshot)
JNS.org – The two-state solution long backed by successive U.S. administrations and the international community to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a “canard” that Palestinians view as a “stepping stone to the destruction of Israel,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Friday.
“It’s important for us in the United States to be very clear-eyed about what it means to be a strong ally of the State of Israel, and that means we should not embrace the canard of a two-state solution,” the Republican told the Israeli American Council summit in Washington. “That is not seeking to have peace. They are seeking that as a stepping stone to the destruction of the Jewish state, and that is not acceptable!”
In his address, the staunchly pro-Israel governor, who has cracked down on violent university demonstrations against Israel in the Sunshine State and fought against the boycott of Israel, said that chants of “From the River to the Sea” common at the protests were calls for genocide.
“What you’re seeing on these college campuses, no question, is a lot of virulent antisemitism, a lot of hate. When you say, ‘From the River to the Sea’, you are chanting in favor of a second Holocaust. That’s what that means.
“I do think some of these students are just ignorant. I don’t think they even understand what they’re talking about. You hear some of them talking about ‘End the occupation of Palestine’ and I just think they need a little history lesson: There has never been a Palestinian Arab state!” DeSantis continued.
He then offered a crash course in Israel 101.
“Prior to the First World War, you had hundreds of years of occupation under the Ottoman Empire. It was not a Palestinian Arab state. Then you had the British Mandate for Palestine. Then you had a Partition Plan from the U.N.—Jewish state and Arab state,” DeSantis said.
“The Jews accepted the state and founded Israel. The Arabs rejected the state and they went to war to try to eradicate Israel, and they lost. And they went to war again and they lost in 1967 and 1973 and throughout the intifadas, and so on! That land historically has no stronger connection to any group of people except the Jewish people. It goes about thousands of years. Read your Bible!”
Earlier this year, DeSantis signed into laws bill on antisemitism and on Jewish school security, including one which codifies the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, and another allocating state security funding for full-time Jewish day schools and preschools.
He has also spoken out against the often violent campus demonstrations against Jewish students this past year, saying that he would not allow that to happen in Florida, which has become a go-to state for Jews fleeing New York.
The post DeSantis: Two-State Solution ‘Stepping Stone’ to End of Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.