MK Moshe Feiglin
MK Moshe FeiglinIsrael news photo: Flash 90

United States President Barack Obama’s speech to the United Nations on Tuesday, in which he declared that Israel cannot continue to exist as a secure, democratic state without “the realization of a Palestinian state,” is the result of Israeli leaders’ own speeches, MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud) has said.

Feiglin explained, “Until [former Prime Minister Yitzchak] Rabin and [Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu, all Israeli leaders repeatedly stated the historic truth: that there is no ‘Palestinian’ nation, no ‘Palestinian’ history and no ‘Palestinian’ national aspirations.

“There is an Arab nation that aspires to destroy Israel, and the ‘Palestinian’ invention is the main way to do that,” he continued.

World leaders always understood that fact, he added. However, he said, Israeli leaders’ change in heart eventually led Western views to change, as well.

“Once Israel recognized ‘the Palestinian nation and its rights,’ it began a worldwide process of loss of legitimacy for the existence of a Jewish state,” Feiglin stated, explaining, “It’s either our land, or theirs. If we recognized another nation’s rights to our land – we lost our own rights.”

Obama is wrong in saying that the creation of an Arab state in Judea and Samaria will guarantee Israel’s security, Feiglin concluded. “A Palestinian state is not a guarantee of Israel’s security, it’s a recipe for Israel’s destruction,” he warned.

Obama’s statements were also criticized by Minister Yisrael Katz and Deputy Minister Danny Danon, both of whom expressed concern over the connection the U.S. President drew between Israel’s safety and the establishment of a state of Palestine.