In his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, Prime Minister Yair Lapid will include an explicit call for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, an official close to the Israeli leader said Wednesday.
The revelation drew both criticism from right-wing ministers in Lapid’s eight-party coalition, and support from some of his allies on the left.
Lapid’s speech will have four sections and offer “hope and vision through strength,” said the official in a briefing to reporters. The prime minister will stress that “Israel must move toward a two-state solution.”
“For many years, no Israeli prime minister has said this on the UN stage,” the official said.
But Lapid will also use his speech to emphasize the risks Israel is not willing to take.
“We will not do anything that will endanger the security of Israel and Israelis by even a centimeter,” the official explained, “but separation from the Palestinians must be part of our diplomatic vision, part of the hope through strength worldview.”
In response, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked tweeted that Lapid has “no public legitimacy to entangle Israel with statements that cause damage to the country.”
Shaked — who has publicly apologized for sitting in the coalition in which she still serves, and who now heads the right-wing Jewish Home party — added that Lapid was speaking only for himself and not the government.
“Establishing a terror state in Judea and Samaria will endanger Israel’s security,” tweeted Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar of the National Unity party, using the biblical names for the West Bank.
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