Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar warned that the creation of a Palestinian state would pose an existential threat to Israel, calling the idea “suicidal” during an interview with Newsmax on Wednesday.
Speaking from Jerusalem on "Rob Schmitt Tonight," Sa’ar referenced Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza as a failed experiment that led to the establishment of a terror stronghold.
“We did it when we totally withdrew in 2005 from [the] Gaza Strip,” he said. “We dismantled all our military camps, all our communities, even the graves from the cemeteries.”
According to Sa’ar, Hamas quickly turned Gaza into “the largest terror kingdom on earth,” launching repeated attacks on Israel. He noted that it took just 16 years from Hamas’ takeover in 2007 until the brutal October 7 onslaught.
Sa’ar also criticized the international push for a Palestinian state, led by Western governments frustrated with Israel’s response to Hamas terrorism. He questioned their understanding of the threat Israel faces, arguing that “they are not directly affected,” and that Israelis alone would bear the consequences.
Recalling the Oslo Accords, he said the Palestinian Authority failed to curb terrorism, and instead “every place we left became a huge base of terrorism.”
“Now, if you will give them a state… with control over the border, over the sky... that will be suicidal from the point of view of Israel,” Sa’ar stated.
He dismissed the notion of a Hamas-free Palestinian state as unrealistic, asking, “Who will enforce that?”
Referring to the two-state model often championed abroad, Sa’ar concluded: “It’s become a slogan. Two-state solution. Who said it's the solution? It's probably the problem. I say it's the two-state illusion.”