Eisenkot rejects a two-state solution and annexation of Palestinians, saying Israel must be ready to strike Iran to prevent a nuclear weapon

Former Israeli military chief Gadi Eisenkot, a challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel’s October 27 election, rejected both a two-state solution and annexing Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. He said Israel must be prepared to attack Iran to prevent it from acquiring a military nuclear capability.

Eisenkot called “two states for two peoples” a mistake and described annexing millions of Palestinians as a “disaster” for Israel. Referring to about three million Palestinians in the West Bank and two million in Gaza, he said: “I don’t want them.”

He also said Israel should not allow any Gaza resident to leave the territory to work in Israel “for the next 100 years.” On the war, he said its original objective was to destroy Hamas’s military and governing power within a year, and criticized Netanyahu for later adding “total victory” as a goal. “The last total victory was achieved in 1945 against Japan and Germany. Today’s reality is more complicated,” Eisenkot said.

Eisenkot ruled out governing with any Arab party under current circumstances, saying none accepted his four principles and that he wanted support from “Zionist, statesmanlike parties.” He said National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir may have done “some good things” in prisons but had “failed catastrophically” in tackling crime in Israel.

Eisenkot had also rejected the two-state formula in June, saying those advocating “peace now” and two states did not understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.