Politics
Joseph Haddad on Palestinian state: 'I changed my mind and understood this is not the solution'
Joseph Haddad, No. 2 on the "Your Israel" list of Ofer Winter, said in an Arabic-language interview with a Saudi channel published in April 2021 that ultimately the solution is an Israeli state alongside a Palestinian state. After the video was distributed yesterday, Haddad wrote that it was an edited video and that during Operation Guardian of the Walls he changed his mind. This morning he added that he is "firmly opposed to a Palestinian state."
· Source: X, Srugim, Al-Arabiya. Photo: Arevimzelze, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Joseph Haddad, No. 2 on the "Your Israel" list of Ofer Winter, responded to a video of an interview he gave previously in Arabic to Al-Arabiya, in which he supported a Palestinian state alongside Israel, and wrote that during Operation Guardian of the Walls he changed his mind.
The video, a roughly 1-minute-and-15-second clip from a roughly 28-minute interview that Al-Arabiya published on YouTube in April 2021, was distributed on social networks yesterday and was also published on X by journalist Mohammad Majadla. In the clip, Haddad was asked his opinion on a Palestinian state, and according to a Hebrew translation attached to the video, he replied: "This is something I've always said," and added that ultimately the solution is an Israeli state alongside a Palestinian state, "something that must happen." He also said, according to the same translation, that when Israeli Arabs are an integral part of decision-making, it will be possible to advance toward peace with the Palestinians, whom he called "our brothers."
That night, Haddad wrote on X that an "edited video" from the interview was being distributed, and claimed that in that same interview he "refuted the apartheid lie, talked about how Iran is the real threat, and defined Hamas as a terrorist organization." "Regarding a Palestinian state, I've said this before -- during Guardian of the Walls, when I saw the unity of Palestinians with Arabs from within burning down the mixed cities, I changed my mind and understood this is not the solution," he wrote.
This morning, Haddad released another video response, in which he said the video was "from more than five and a half years ago, before Guardian of the Walls and long before Oct. 7," that "surfaced yesterday and not by chance." According to him, at that time he believed the end of the conflict would come when Israeli Arabs were integrated into key positions and sat at the negotiation table, and his change of approach occurred during Guardian of the Walls. "I don't have an ounce of trust in Palestinians today and I am firmly opposed to a Palestinian state," he added.
Source: Srugim
