Biden praises Lapid’s UN speech, ‘could not agree more’

Surprised? The U.S. leader made the same appeal for an independent Palestinian state just a day earlier.

By World Israel News Staff

U.S. President Joe Biden lauded Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s address to the UN General Assembly calling for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

That was no surprise, as just a day earlier, the American president made the same appeal for an independent Palestinian state in his own address to the Assembly.

“We will continue to advocate for a lasting, negotiated peace between the Jewish and democratic state of Israel and the Palestinian people,” Biden said on Wednesday.

“A negotiated two-state solution remains our best way to ensure Israel’s security and prosperity for the future and give the Palestinians the state to which they are entitled.”

“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,” Lapid told the Assembly in New York on Thursday.

“Peace is not a compromise. It is the most courageous decision we can make.”

He also claimed that a majority of Israelis are in agreement. “Despite all the obstacles, still today a large majority of Israelis support the vision of this two-state solution. I am one of them,” he said.

Yet a poll broadcast immediately after the address on Israel’s left-leaning Channel 12 news program reported that only 28 percent of Israelis actually favor creating a Palestinian state, JNS noted.

Following Lapid’s speech, Biden took to Twitter and praised the Israeli premier.

“I welcome @IsraeliPM Lapid’s  courageous statement at the UN General Assembly: ‘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.’ I could not agree more,” he wrote.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides also praised Lapid’s speech.

“Peaceful coexistence is only way forward. As POTUS urged here in July, ‘two peoples, with deep & ancient roots in this land, living side by side in peace and security,’” he tweeted.