Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared Sunday that the 2009 Bar Ilan speech in which he voiced support for a demilitarized Palestinian state is no longer relevant.
The Friday brochure Olam Katan that was distributed at synagogues this Sabbath asked the parties running for election where they stood on the idea of establishing a Palestinian state.
Deputy Minister Tzipi Hotovely replied to the brochure in the name of Likud, and said that “The Prime Minister has announced to the public that the Bar Ilan speech is null and void. Netanyahu's entire political biography is a struggle against a Palestinian state.”
Following the publication in Olam Katan and ensuing queries by reporters, Likud's Election Staff said that “Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that in the situation that has formed in the Middle East, any territory that is vacated will be taken up by extremist Islam and the Iran-backed terror groups. Therefore, there will be no retreats and no concessions – this is simply irrelevant.”
In a Channel 2 interview in January, Netanyahu said that the Bar Ilan speech was not null and void, “but the Palestinians have emptied it of content. Under the conditions they want at present, it is simply not something we can consider. There is no partner for an agreement.”