Smotrich, Strok commend Trump for rejecting Palestinian statehood

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in a written statement on Thursday that former US president and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump showed “courage and integrity” by “changing his opinion” and opposing a Palestinian state.

However, the full transcript of Trump’s comments, made in an interview for TIME magazine on April 12, indicated that the former president did not actually negate a two-state solution nor a Palestinian state, but merely said that this has become much harder due to a hardening of stances on both sides.

Smotrich’s mistranslation was based on a post by Channel 12 journalist Amit Segal in which he wrote, “In an interview for TIME, Trump becomes the first [presidential] candidate in the current century to renounce support for a Palestinian state.” Smotrich did not respond by press time to a query pointing out the mistake.

Asked in an interview whether the current Israel-Hamas war should end in a two-state solution, Trump answered, “Most people thought it was going to be a two-state solution. I’m not sure a two-state solution anymore is gonna work. Everybody was talking about two states, even when I was there. I was saying, ‘What do you like here? Do you like two states?’

“Now people are going back to – it depends where you are,” Trump said. “Every day it changes now. If Israel’s making progress, they don’t want two states. They want everything. And if Israel’s not making progress, sometimes they talk about two-state solution. Two-state solution seemed to be the idea that people liked most, the policy or the idea that people liked above.”

Asked if he liked the idea of a two-state solution, Trump answered, “It depends when. There was a time when I thought two states could work. Now I think two states is going to be very, very tough. I think it’s going to be much tougher to get. I also think you have fewer people that like the idea. You had a lot of people that liked the idea four years ago. Today, you have far fewer people that like that idea.”

Trump then described a claim made by his friend, deceased billionaire Sheldon Adelson, that the level of hatred in the Palestinian school system made a two-state solution impossible.

“I disagreed with it. But so far, he hasn’t been wrong,” Trump said.

"A leader who looks reality in the eye"

Smotrich called Trump a “distinct supporter of Israel,” and blessed the former president for his alleged “clear words and his taking back support for forming a Palestinian state.”

“A Palestinian state would be a terror state that will endanger Israel’s existence, and international pressure to form it is an injustice of historic proportions by countries of the West, who are willing to endanger the only Jewish state out of internal political interests,” Smotrich wrote.

Granting the Palestinians a state after the October 7 Hamas massacre would be a “terrible prize for terror” and serve as encouragement for other radical Islamist organizations, he said.

“I hope and pray that additional leaders in the world will show the courage and integrity that presidential candidate Trump showed: to change their position and take back their turning away from the State of Israel, and cooperate with us with determination in the fight we are leading in the name of the free world against radical Islam, which threatens peace in the entire world,” Smotrich wrote.

A fellow member of Smotrich’s party, National Missions Minister Orit Strock, also praised Trump’s comments, calling them “astute, honest, and courageous.”

“This is how a leader who looks reality in the eye, avoids delusions, and truly wants the best for Israel,” Strock wrote on X.

Samaria Regional Authority head Yossi Dagan also commended the alleged rejection of Palestinian statehood, saying that “Trump is a true friend, not just of the State of Israel but also of justice.”

The lauding of Trump on Thursday came after other comments by government ministers in the same vein. Last week, for example, Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli called current US President Joe Biden’s foreign policies “weak” and said that if he were American, he would vote for the Republican Party in the upcoming election.