Lapid calls for two states, urges action on Iran

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid told the United Nations General Assembly’ last week that a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was “the right thing” for Israel.

Speaking on his largest stage since becoming prime minister, Lapid decried Iranian antisemitism, urged the world to counter Tehran’s nuclear ambitions with a “credible military threat,” touted Israel’s peace agreements with regional neighbours and said he and most Israelis supported a peaceful Palestinian state alongside Israel.

“An agreement with the Palestinians, based on two states for two peoples, is the right thing for Israel’s security, for Israel’s economy and for the future of our children,” he declared.

Lapid’s decision to give full backing to Palestinian statehood on the world stage marked a sharp shift from former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who largely used the pulpit to inveigh against Iran and what he said was Palestinian rejection of Israeli peace efforts. In 2016, Netanyahu told the UN plenum he was committed to a two-state vision, but he later disavowed the comments.

Lapid said Israel had only a single condition to Palestinian statehood: “That a future Palestinian state will be a peaceful one. That it will not become another terror base from which to threaten the well-being and the very existence of Israel. That we will have the ability to protect the security of all the citizens of Israel, at all times.”

“You can ask us to live according to the values in the UN Charter,” he added, “but you cannot ask us to die for them.”

News that Lapid would call for a two-state solution in his speech drew condemnation from the right flank of his governing coalition, as well as Netanyahu, who is currently opposition leader and his chief rival in upcoming elections.

Netanyahu accused the premier of “bringing the Palestinians back to the forefront of the world stage and putting Israel right into the Palestinian pit”.

However, the prime minister’s comments drew widespread praise from Lapid’s centrist and left-wing allies, as well as US President Joe Biden, who called the speech “courageous”.

Lapid spent much of his address focusing on Iran, which Israel accuses of pursuing nuclear weapons. Efforts to restore the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which curbed Iran’s enrichment activities in exchange for sanctions relief before the US withdrew in 2018, recently fell apart, with Israel calling the pact a “bad deal”.

“If the Iranian regime gets a nuclear weapon, they will use it,” Lapid said, calling for the world to put forth a “credible military threat”.

“And then – and only then – to negotiate a longer and stronger deal with them,” he said.

“It needs to be made clear to Iran that if it advances its nuclear program, the world will not respond with words, but with military force.”

Lapid has vowed that Israel will defend itself in any way possible from Iranian threats. The Biden administration has maintained that it prefers to pursue a diplomatic solution.

Lapid accused the world of “choosing the easy option.” He said that Israel cannot do that, and will “do whatever it takes” to stop Tehran from getting a nuclear weapon.

“We will not stand by while there are those who try to kill us. Not again. Never Again.”

Noting widespread protests in Iran over the death of 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini after she was arrested for violating hijab regulations, Lapid charged Tehran with hating its own people, saying that “the world is silent” while young Iranians suffer.

“Their hate is a way of life.” he said of the ayatollahs’ regime. “It is a way to preserve their oppressive rule.”

Lapid also accused the world of silence in the face of Iranian calls for Israel’s destruction.

“And this building is silent,” he charged. “What are you afraid of? Has there ever been a time in human history where silence stopped violence?”

Lapid – who is seeking reelection after his unwieldy coalition of left, centre, right and Arab parties fell apart in May – noted that his caretaker government has Arab ministers and an Arab party, the Supreme Court has Arab judges, and Arab doctors save lives in Israeli hospitals.

He also took aim at the UN itself.

“I am not a guest in this building,” Lapid stressed, months after a member of a UN Human Rights Council panel investigating Israeli actions questioned whether Israel should be a UN member.

“Israel is a proud sovereign nation and an equal member of the United Nations,” Lapid said. “We will not be silent when those who wish to harm us use this very stage to spread lies about us.”

TIMES OF ISRAEL