Israeli lawmakers rip Trump plan, demand Netanyahu reject US ‘pathway’ to Palestinian state

Settlement leaders and Israeli lawmakers criticize US draft resolution at UN Security Council calling for a “pathway” to Palestinian statehood, demand Netanyahu explicitly reject the measure.

By World Israel News Staff

Israeli lawmakers, ministers, and settlement leaders demanded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explicitly denounce support in a US draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council supporting a “pathway” to Palestinian statehood.

The fracas stems from the planned vote at the UN Security Council this week on an updated version of the US-backed resolution establishing an international stabilization force to police the Gaza Strip.

The resolution would give the ISF a formal mandate and full UN backing to operate in the war-torn coastal enclave – a basic condition potential contributors to the ISF have set as the US struggles to cobble together a force of soldiers from Muslim and Arab-majority states willing to take on the peacekeeping mission and potentially confront Hamas over its refusal to disarm.

The updated US draft resolution includes the entire 20-point Gaza peace plan, unveiled by the Trump administration last month, as an annex.

The move was meant to bolster support among America’s Arab and Muslim allies, who sought mention in the resolution of Palestinian statehood.

Article 19 of the peace plan calls for a “credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood,” which the US recognizes as “the aspiration of the Palestinian people.”

The inclusion of the clause, while symbolic, marks the strongest language yet used by the US in a Security Council resolution to express support for the idea of Palestinian statehood.

A 2002 resolution, passed during the peak of the Second Intifada, “affirmed a vision” for the two-state solution, without explicitly and unambiguously endorsing Palestinian statehood.

The draft resolution’s mention of Palestinian statehood roiled two Israeli ministers: National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Ben-Gvir, who heads the Otzma Yehudit party, issued a statement demanding Netanyahu issue a statement pledging to block the establishment of a Palestinian state.

“There is no such thing as a ‘Palestinian people.’ It is an invention with no historical, archaeological, or factual basis,” Ben-Gvir said. “A collection of migrants from Arab countries to the Land of Israel is not a people. And they certainly do not deserve a reward for the terror, murder, and atrocities they have sown everywhere — especially from Gaza, where they were granted self-rule.”

“The only real solution in Gaza is encouraging voluntary emigration, and certainly not granting a prize for terror in the form of a state that would serve as a base for continued terrorism.”

“Otzma Yehudit will not be part of any government that agrees to this. I call on the prime minister to clarify that the State of Israel will not permit the establishment of a Palestinian state in any form.”

Smotrich took to X to register his dismay over the draft resolution, while castigating Netanyahu for failing to annex parts of Judea and Samaria in response to the push for international recognition of unilateral Palestinian statehood in September.

“Two months ago, immediately after several countries announced their unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, you committed to respond decisively on the matter as soon as you returned from the United States,” Smotrich wrote.

“Since then, as mentioned, two months have passed during which you chose silence and a diplomatic disgrace. The deterioration we are now witnessing regarding this issue is dangerous and is your responsibility due to your silence.”

MK Avi Maoz, a former deputy minister who bolted the government, accused President Trump of “advancing a Palestinian terror state in Judea and Samaria.”

Maoz recently drafted legislation, taken up by the Knesset during Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Israel, which would apply Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria. The bill passed its preliminary vote in the Knesset, drawing a sharp rebuke from Vance, who said he took it as a personal insult.

The Yesha Council – the umbrella organization representing municipalities and regional councils governing Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria – accused Netanyahu of “agreeing to a Palestinian state in exchange for normalization with Saudi Arabia.”

“We have said countless times that it is either sovereignty or a Palestinian state. The prime minister avoided sovereignty, and now we are advancing toward the establishment of such a state.”

“We demand that the prime minister clarify that a Palestinian state will not be established in any form or formulation.”

Benjamin NetanyahuBezalel SmotrichItamar Ben-GvirPalestinian StatePalestinian statehood