Jewish Democrats denounce Netanyahu’s opposition to Palestinian state

A group of Jewish House Democrats is pushing back hard against recent comments by Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposing a Palestinian state.

In a brief, two-sentence statement issued Friday, the lawmakers condemned Netanyahu’s position, stating that the creation of an autonomous Palestine, existing alongside Israel, is the best strategy for securing a lasting peace in the volatile region. 

“We strongly disagree with the Prime Minister,” the lawmakers said. “A two-state solution is the path forward.”

The statement was endorsed by 15 Jewish Democrats in the lower chamber, including prominent veteran lawmakers such as Reps. Jerry Nadler (N.Y.), the senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee; Jamie Raskin (Md.), the senior Democrat on the Oversight and Accountability panel; Adam Schiff (Calif.), the former chair of the Intelligence Committee; and Jan Schakowsky (Ill.), a chief deputy whip in her 26th year on Capitol Hill. 

The other lawmakers signing onto the statement are Reps. Jake Auchincloss (Mass.), Becca Balint (Vt.), Suzanne Bonamici (Ore.), Steve Cohen (Tenn.), Dan Goldman (N.Y.), Seth Magaziner (R.I.), Mike Levin (Calif.), Dean Phillips (Minn.), Kim Schrier (Wash.), Brad Sherman (Calif.), and Elissa Slotkin (Mich.).

The brevity of the Democrats’ statement reflects the sensitive nature of the debate: The Jewish liberals have strongly supported Israel’s right to defend itself following the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, but they’ve long opposed many of the specific policies of the far-right Netanyahu administration.

Other House liberals were not so cautious in their condemnation of Netanyahu’s remarks. 

“The Prime Minister isn’t simply saying ‘no’ to the United States, he is saying ‘no’ to the possibility of a secure and prosperous future for his own people and the people of Palestine, and that is unacceptable,” Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) said.

The pushback arrives amid Israel’s ongoing military operations in the Gaza Strip in response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants that killed more than 1,200 people. Netanyahu stirred a nest of controversy Thursday when he rejected global calls — including those from the Biden administration — to scale back the intensity of the fighting for the sake of protecting Palestinian civilians.

More than 25,000 Palestinians have already been killed in the conflict, according to Gaza’s health ministry — which is associated with Hamas but has historically reported accurate mortality data — and more than 80 percent of the Gazan population has been displaced.

Netanyahu also raised eyebrows for rejecting calls for a two-state solution, which he’s long opposed, with warnings that it will create a safe haven for Hamas to launch attacks on Israel in the future.

Israel, he said, “must have security control over the entire territory west of the Jordan River.”

“That collides with the idea of sovereignty [for Palestinians]. What can we do?” he added. “This truth I tell to our American friends, and I put the brakes on the attempt to coerce us to a reality that would endanger the state of Israel.”

The remarks prompted an immediate response from the Biden White House. 

“We obviously see it differently,” said John Kirby, the administration’s national security spokesperson.