Top contenders for Israeli premiership reject Palestinian statehood

Naftali Bennett and Gadi Eisenkot, the top two contenders to unseat Prime Minister Netanyahu, both reject Palestinian statehood ahead of October election.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Two of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leading election rivals have rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state, while offering sharply different approaches to the future of Judea and Samaria.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett delivered the more categorical declaration, saying he would oppose Palestinian statehood even if accepting it were required to secure normalization with Saudi Arabia.

“I will not allow a Palestinian state to be established, and I will not hand over territory. Period,” Bennett said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12.

The Yashar party leader said that instead of making territorial concessions, he would promote a regional initiative centered on trade, investment and economic cooperation.

“I am not committing suicide for anyone,” Bennett added, ruling out accepting a pathway to Palestinian independence as part of a Saudi agreement.

Bennett’s remarks mark the latest attempt by the former premier to appeal to right-of-center voters while he campaigns as an alternative to the current government on domestic governance, ultra-Orthodox enlistment and responsibility for the failures surrounding the Oct. 7 attack.

Gadi Eisenkot, the former IDF chief of staff whose Yashar party has surged in recent polls, also distanced himself from Palestinian statehood during a national security conference hosted by Yedioth Ahronoth and the Institute for National Security Studies.

“I have never spoken about a Palestinian state,” Eisenkot said.

Eisenkot argued that Israel should focus on preserving itself as a Jewish, democratic country with a durable Jewish majority while retaining overriding Israeli security responsibility between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Unlike Bennett, however, Eisenkot warned against collapsing the Palestinian Authority or placing Israel in direct administrative control of Judea and Samaria’s Arab population.

He accused Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of pursuing a policy that would dismantle the PA and force Israel to assume responsibility for the entire Palestinian population. Eisenkot described that prospect as reckless and strategically damaging.

Eisenkot issued a particularly stark warning about conditions in Judea and Samaria, lamenting that the area is “on the brink of anarchy,” despite counterterrorism operations conducted by the IDF and Shin Bet.

He warned that Israel faced “very difficult days” unless the government restored a unified chain of command, supported IDF officers and authorized stronger action against Palestinian terrorism.

Eisenkot also accused members of Netanyahu’s coalition and pro-government commentators of attacking military commanders rather than supporting their efforts to restore order.

The comments came amid a sharp escalation in violence in Judea and Samaria. A recent Palestinian terror attack in the village of Tell, near Nablus, left two Israelis dead, with several other smaller attacks reported in the area over the past week.