On June 14, 2009, I sat in the audience in Tel Aviv’s Bar Ilan University when Netanyahu delivered some straight talk to his core constituency. For the first time he endorsed a Palestinian state, as a neighbor alongside the Jewish state of Israel.
Then, citing Isaiah’s biblical messianic vision of swords being beaten into plowshares, Netanyahu said of the Palestinians, “We do not want to rule over them, to govern their lives, or to impose our flag or our culture on them.” It was a powerful moment and an empowering gesture.
A generation ago Egypt’s Anwar Sadat had the guts to bridge the abyss of conflict and hate to make peace with Israel’s Menachem Begin. Does Abbas have the courage to do the same?
We wish our president and secretary of state well in convincing him to do so — but don’t bet the house or the safety of 8 million Israelis that he will.
This op-ed first appeared on Fox News on March 17, 2014.