During an interview with CNN, Netanyahu stated that he prefers to focus on content rather than labels.
“I discovered that if you use labels you don’t get far, since different people mean different things when they say ‘states.’ I would rather talk about content than labels,” he said.
The prime minister clarified that Israel “has to have the overriding security. Not the UN, not Canadian Mounties, not — I don’t know — Austrian or Australian forces — Israeli forces have to have the security control.”
Netanyahu warned that without Israeli security control, “terrorists will taker over that place.”
The interview followed recent statements by United States President Donald Trump that he “likes a two-state solution.”
Trump’s administration claims to be working on a plan for Israelis and Palestinians that the president used to refer to as “the deal of the century” with the aim of resolving the century-old conflict.
The White House team charged with drawing up the plan is led by Middle East special envoy Jason Greenblatt, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Trump’s advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The new American plan is unlikely to differ significantly from previous imperialist attempts to partition the country into two states. The substantive difference probably lies in Trump’s belief in his own ability to bulldoze it through Israeli and Palestinian opposition.
During the interview, Netanyahu stated his intention to read Trump’s plan “with an open mind.”
The prime minister’s choice of security-focussed language over advocating Israel’s deep connection to the Judea and Samaria regions is generally an ominous sign that he may expect difficult foreign pressure on territorial issues and doesn’t fully trust himself to resist.
At such moments it becomes easier and more politically savvy for Netanyahu to play up the security-minded western conservative feature of his political identity and tone down his inner ideological Jewish nationalist.
