As the United Nations prepares for its upcoming vote on recognizing another Palestinian state, I write as someone who represents the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria. These are communities that have lived through decades of terror attacks and witnessed firsthand the devastating consequences of rewarding violence with political concessions.
The world changed on October 7, 2023. The barbaric massacre of over 1,200 innocent Israelis, families murdered in their homes, young people slaughtered at a music festival, children taken hostage, revealed the true face of Palestinian terrorism in its most horrific form. This was not resistance; it was genocide attempted in real time, broadcast live by the perpetrators themselves.
In the wake of October 7th, polling consistently shows that an overwhelming majority of Israelis—across the political spectrum—oppose the creation of a Palestinian state. This is not stubbornness or extremism. It is the rational response of a people who have seen what happens when we make territorial concessions to those who openly call for our destruction.
The Failure of Oslo's Promise
For thirty years, Israel has made unprecedented concessions in pursuit of peace. We withdrew from Gaza in 2005, uprooting entire communities and hoping it would become a model of Palestinian self-governance. Instead, Gaza became a launching pad for thousands of rockets and the base for October 7th's horrors. We gave the Palestinian Authority control over major population centers in Judea and Samaria, only to see them become centers of incitement and terror financing.
The message from October 7th is clear: creating another terror state in our midst, this time in the strategic heartland of Israel, would be an act of national suicide.
The Palestinian Authority: A Failed Entity
Let's speak plainly about the Palestinian Authority. This is not a democratic institution representing the aspirations of the Palestinian people. The PA has not held elections since its inception decades ago. Mahmoud Abbas, now in the 19th year of his four-year term, presides over a corrupt system that enriches its leaders while keeping its people in poverty.
Worse, the PA actively funds terrorism through its "pay-for-slay" program, rewarding those who murder Israelis with monthly salaries. It names schools and streets after suicide bombers. It teaches children that killing Jews is heroic. This is the entity the international community wants to reward with statehood?
A Path Forward Based on Reality
I do not speak from hatred of the Arab Palestinian people living in the land of Israel. Like all people, they deserve better than corrupt leadership that enriches itself through perpetual conflict. But peace cannot be built on the foundation of terror, and statehood is not a prize for violence.
Any sustainable solution must begin with these principles:
- First, the dismantling of the current Palestinian Authority and its replacement through genuine democratic elections—something the Palestinian people have been denied for decades. Let them choose leaders who will work for their prosperity rather than our destruction.
- Second, complete demilitarization and an end to incitement. No more rocket factories disguised as schools. No more textbooks teaching children to hate. No more paying salaries to terrorists. The US recognizes this last point by passing its groundbreaking, brutally honest Taylor Force Act.
- Third, recognition that the Jewish people have an ancient and unbreakable connection to this land. We are not colonial occupiers—we are the indigenous people of Israel, returning to our ancestral homeland after centuries of exile. And we are here to stay.
The Stakes for Israel
The communities I represent in Judea and Samaria are not settlements. They are neighborhoods and towns where families have built lives, raised children, and contributed to Israeli society. These are kindergarten teachers and doctors, farmers and high-tech workers. They represent the deep roots of the Jewish people in this biblical land, and we are determined to never again be driven from our home.
If the UN votes to recognize a Palestinian state based on the 1967 lines, it will be voting to make these communities, hundreds of thousands of Israelis, into trespassers in their own homeland. It will be telling families who survived October 7th that their sacrifice means nothing, that terror pays, and that the international community prefers the fiction of easy solutions to the hard work of building genuine, sustainable coexistence in this part of the world.
A Message to the World
To our friends in the international community, I say this: Israel is not asking you to abandon your hopes for peace. We are asking you to be honest about what peaceful coexistence requires. Peace cannot be imposed from New York or Geneva. It must be built from the ground up, based on mutual recognition and an end to violence.
The vote you are contemplating will not bring peace - it will bring more war. It will send the clear message to every terrorist that October 7th was successful, that enough violence can achieve any political goal. It will encourage more attacks, not fewer.
Instead of rushing to grant statehood to those who have not earned it, help us build the conditions for genuine peace: establishing a new, democratic Palestinian leadership that renounces violence, educational systems that teach coexistence rather than hatred, and economic development that gives young Arab Palestinians a stake in building rather than destroying.
The people of Israel have shown remarkable restraint and made painful sacrifices for peace. We withdrew from Gaza and southern Lebanon. We released thousands of terrorists in prisoner exchanges. We have negotiated and compromised for decades.
But October 7th was a red line, for all Israelis. It is my duty as governor, responsible for tens of thousands of lives, to encourage real peace. It is our duty to stand strong against violence of any kind, especially that targeted against us as Jews. We will not reward genocide with statehood. We will not create another terror state in the heart of our homeland. And we will not pretend that peace can be built on a foundation of lies and violence.
The choice before the international community is clear: Stand with those who seek genuine peace based on truth and coexistence, or stand with those who celebrate murder and teach their children to hate. The future of the Middle East and the credibility of international law itself hangs in the balance.
Governor Yisrael Ganz is the elected leader of the Binyamin Region and serves as head of the Yesha Council, representing the Jewish communities throughout Judea and Samaria.