Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu Tells NBC He Wants a ‘Peaceful Two-State Solution’

On the eve of the Israeli election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there would never be a so-called “Palestinian” state while he was in office. But now, only days later, he’s brushing off his comments as campaign rhetoric.

[NBC] — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, in his first American television interview since winning re-election, appeared to back away Thursday from his declaration that he would not allow the establishment of a “Palestinian” state.

“I don’t want a one-state solution,” he told NBC News in an interview. “I want a sustainable, peaceful two-state solution.“

But he cautioned that “circumstances have to change” for that to happen. He said that the [Abbas] refuses to recognize Israel and has made a pact with Hamas calling for Israel’s destruction.

“And every territory that is vacated today in the Middle East is taken up by Islamist forces,” he said. “We want that to change so we can realize a vision of real, sustained peace.”

On Monday, with polls showing a tight race between Netanyahu’s Likud Party and the Zionist Union of Isaac Herzog, Netanyahu had definitively ruled out the establishment of a “Palestinian” state.

In the NBC News interview, Netanyahu insisted that relations with the United States were strong even though he had yet to hear from President Barack Obama about his election win. He said that Washington had “no greater ally” than Israel.