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France, Saudi Arabia, and the UN Want to Impose a Palestinian State; Here’s Why It’s a Disaster
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York, US, Sept. 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Next month, France and Saudi Arabia will host a conference backed by the United Nations to create a plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state, without regard for Israel’s interests. In other words, the conference is designed to impose a two-state solution whether Israel likes it or not.
Clearly, it doesn’t matter to the French or the Saudis that a Palestinian state would present an existential threat to Israel — or be a reward for the Palestinian terrorism of October 7, 2023. It doesn’t matter that the leaders of such a state would be publicly committed to Israel’s eventual destruction. And it doesn’t even matter that polls show neither Israelis nor Palestinians want a two-state solution.
The leaders of France and Saudi Arabia also forget, or perhaps choose to ignore, the fact that the Palestinians have been offered statehood on several occasions, dating back to the 1947 UN partition plan. Indeed, within one decade alone, Israel offered the Palestinians statehood three times in the 2000s. Each offer was more generous than the last, and included nearly the entirety of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), the Gaza Strip, a capital in Jerusalem, and even territory within pre-1967 Israel. The Palestinians said no to each of these offers and responded to them with terrorism and bloodshed.
Moreover, for 18 years, there already was a de-facto two-state solution. In 2005, Israel completely withdrew from the Gaza Strip. The Gazan Palestinians were given complete autonomy to govern themselves and build a state. Instead, they turned Gaza into a base from which to attack Israel with the ultimate aim of destroying the Jewish State. Gaza’s Hamas rulers launched several wars against Israel, ultimately culminating in the October 7th massacre — the worst mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust. At the same time, the Palestinian Authority had autonomy in almost all of the West Bank.
The two-state solution died on October 7, 2023 — as it became clear that right now, the Palestinian have no desire to peacefully live alongside Israel (opinion polls show that Oct. 7 is still supported by a majority of Palestinians).
But tragically, many world leaders, including those of France and Saudi Arabia, are determined to press ahead anyway — despite Israel’s security needs and facts on the ground. So how should Israel respond?
Perhaps Israel should convene a conference with leaders of independence-seeking regions of France. Indeed, if French President Emmanuel Macron is so insistent on the Palestinians having a country of their own, he should be more than willing to grant independence to the peoples of these territories. And maybe Saudi Arabia should consider giving its oppressed Shiite minority in the east their own country.
A more practical response would be for Israel to present the upcoming conference with a list of demands in exchange for Palestinian statehood.
First, the Palestinians must accept that Israel is the national home of the Jewish people. In other words, say yes to a Jewish state — yes to thousands of years of proven Jewish history and sovereignty in the Holy Land, and yes to the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in their native homeland. This must be done with actions, not just words.
Second, the Palestinians must renounce their so-called “Right of Return” — the right of millions of Palestinian “refugees” (which are largely non-direct descendants of refugees, including many who left on their own volition) to “return” to what is now Israel — a land that most of them have never seen, let alone lived in — so that they can erase Israel’s Jewish majority, and therefore, the Jewish state itself.
Third, the Palestinians must allow Jews complete and unfettered access to their holy places. This includes the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, where Jews are forbidden to pray per the terms of the “status quo” arrangement that gives exclusive control of the site to the Islamic waqf (religious trust) under the supervision of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Fourth, Jews should be permitted to live in what becomes the state of Palestine, just as Palestinian Arabs are permitted to live in the State of Israel. No expelling Jews as part of a two-state solution simply because they are Jews.
Fifth, demilitarization. A state of Palestine must not be allowed to have heavy weapons such as tanks or fighter aircraft, nor can it be a haven for Israel’s enemies. Palestine must not become an Iranian proxy, as the Gaza Strip became when Hamas took it over in 2007.
Sixth, and finally, once a Palestinian state is created, the Palestinians must renounce all claims to any part of Israel and declare that their conflict with the Jewish State is finished.
These are reasonable demands, but they are demands that the Palestinians will never agree to. Why? Because the vast majority of Palestinians have never wanted a two-state solution. They want all of “Palestine,” “From the River to the Sea,” as the genocidal slogan shouted at university campuses and public squares says. And that is the real reason there isn’t peace.
The author is a freelance writer in Toronto, Canada.
The post France, Saudi Arabia, and the UN Want to Impose a Palestinian State; Here’s Why It’s a Disaster first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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New Poll: Majority of NYC Voters ‘Less Likely’ to Support Mamdani Over His Refusal to Condemn ‘Globalize the Intifada’
Zohran Mamdani. Photo: Ron Adar / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect
In a warning sign for the campaign of Democratic nominee for mayor of New York Zohran Mamdani, a majority of city voters in a new poll say the candidate’s hardline anti-Israel stance makes them less likely to vote for him.
In the survey of likely city voters conducted by American Pulse, 52.5 percent said Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the slogan “globalize the intifada” coupled with his backing of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement made them less likely to vote for him in November. Just 31% of city voters polled were more likely to support him because of these positions.
At the same time, a significant share of young New York City voters support Mamdani’s anti-Israel positioning, a striking sign of shifting generational views on Israel and the Palestinian cause.
Nearly half of voters aged 18 to 44 (46 percent) said the State Assembly member’s backing for BDS and “refusal to condemn the phrase ‘globalize the intifada’” made them more likely to support him.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist from Queens, has been under fire for defending “globalize the intifada,” a slogan many Jewish groups associate with incitement to violence against Israel and Jews. While critics argue it glorifies terrorism, supporters claim it’s a call for international solidarity with oppressed peoples, especially Palestinians. Mamdani has also voiced support for BDS, a movement widely condemned by mainstream Jewish organizations as antisemitic for singling out Israel.
The generational divide exposed by the poll comes amid a broader political realignment. Younger progressives across the country are increasingly critical of Israeli policies, especially in the wake of the Gaza war, and more receptive to Palestinian activism. But to many Jewish leaders, Mamdani’s rising support is alarming.
Rabbi David Wolpe, visiting scholar at Harvard University, condemned the phrase with a sarcastic analogy.
“‘Globalize the intifada’ is just a political slogan,” he said. “Like ‘The cockroaches must be exterminated’ was just a housing authority slogan in Rwanda.”
Jewish organizations have reported a surge in antisemitic incidents in New York and across the U.S. since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war last fall. The blending of anti-Zionist slogans with calls for “intifada,” historically linked to violent uprisings, has deepened fears among Jewish communities that traditional red lines are being crossed.
Whether this emerging coalition reshapes New York politics remains to be seen. However, the poll indicates that among younger voters, views that were once considered fringe are quickly moving into the mainstream.
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Report: Jews Targeted at June’s Pride Month Events
A Jewish gay pride flag. Photo: Twitter.
The research division of the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) released a report on Wednesday detailing incidents of hate against Jews which took place last month during demonstrations in celebration of LGBTQ rights and identity.
Incidents reported by the group include:
- At a Pride march in Wales, the activists Cymru Queers for Palestine chose to block the path and show a sign that said “Profiting from genocide,” an attempt to link the event’s sponsors — such as Amazon — to the war in Gaza.
- A Dublin Pride march saw the participation of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which labeled Israel a “genocidal entity.”
- In Toronto at a late June Pride march, demonstrators again attacked organizers with a sign declaring, “Pride partners with genocide.”
CAM also identified a recurring narrative deployed against Israel by some far-left activists: so-called “pinkwashing,” a term which the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) movement calls “an Israeli government propaganda strategy that cynically exploits LGBTQIA+ rights to project a progressive image while concealing Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies oppressing Palestinians.”
The report notes that at a Washington DC Pride event in early June Medea Benjamin, cofounder of activist group Code Pink and a regular of anti-war protests, wore a pair of goofy, oversized sunglasses and a shirt in her signature pink with the phrase “you can’t pinkwash genocide.”
Other incidents CAM recorded showed the injection of anti-Israel sentiment into Pride events.
A musical group canceled a performance at an interfaith service in Brooklyn, claiming the hosting synagogue had a “public alignment with pro-Israel political positions.” In San Francisco before the yearly Trans March, a Palestine group said in its announcement of its participation, “Stop the war on Iran and the genocide of Palestine, stop the war on immigrants and attacks on trans people.”
CAM notes that this “queers for Palestine” sentiment is not new, pointing to a 2017 event wherein “organizers of the Chicago Dyke March infamously removed participants who were waving a Pride flag adorned with a Star of David on the grounds that the symbol ‘made people feel unsafe.’”
In February, the Israel Defense Forces shared with the New York Post documents it had recovered demonstrating that Hamas had tortured and executed members it suspected of homosexuality and other moral offenses in conflict with Islamist ideology.
Amit Benjamin, who is gay and a first sergeant major in the IDF, said during a visit to New York City for Pride month that “All the ‘queers for Gaza’ need to open their eyes. Hamas kills gays … kills lesbians … queers cannot exist in Gaza.”
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IAEA pulls inspectors from Iran as standoff over access drags on
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi at the agency’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo
The UN nuclear watchdog said on Friday it had pulled its last remaining inspectors from Iran as a standoff over their return to the country’s nuclear facilities bombed by the United States and Israel deepens.
Israel launched its first military strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites in a 12-day war with the Islamic Republic three weeks ago. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspectors have not been able to inspect Iran’s facilities since then, even though IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said that is his top priority.
Iran’s parliament has now passed a law to suspend cooperation with the IAEA until the safety of its nuclear facilities can be guaranteed. While the IAEA says Iran has not yet formally informed it of any suspension, it is unclear when the agency’s inspectors will be able to return to Iran.
“An IAEA team of inspectors today safely departed from Iran to return to the Agency headquarters in Vienna, after staying in Tehran throughout the recent military conflict,” the IAEA said on X.
Diplomats said the number of IAEA inspectors in Iran was reduced to a handful after the June 13 start of the war. Some have also expressed concern about the inspectors’ safety since the end of the conflict, given fierce criticism of the agency by Iranian officials and Iranian media.
Iran has accused the agency of effectively paving the way for the bombings by issuing a damning report on May 31 that led to a resolution by the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said he stands by the report. He has denied it provided diplomatic cover for military action.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday Iran remained committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
“[Grossi] reiterated the crucial importance of the IAEA discussing with Iran modalities for resuming its indispensable monitoring and verification activities in Iran as soon as possible,” the IAEA said.
The US and Israeli military strikes either destroyed or badly damaged Iran’s three uranium enrichment sites. But it was less clear what has happened to much of Iran’s nine tonnes of enriched uranium, especially the more than 400 kg enriched to up to 60% purity, a short step from weapons grade.
That is enough, if enriched further, for nine nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick. Iran says its aims are entirely peaceful, but Western powers say there is no civil justification for enriching to such a high level, and the IAEA says no country has done so without developing the atom bomb.
As a party to the NPT, Iran must account for its enriched uranium, which normally is closely monitored by the IAEA, the body that enforces the NPT and verifies countries’ declarations. But the bombing of Iran’s facilities has now muddied the waters.
“We cannot afford that … the inspection regime is interrupted,” Grossi told a press conference in Vienna last week.
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