By Michael Wilner, JPost—
The United States should give up on a two-state solution between Israel and Palestinians, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani said on Saturday night.
The former mayor addressed the Israeli American Council (IAC)– promising to remain apolitical– after four intense days of debate prep with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. His first debate with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is scheduled for Monday night.
“You can make peace between the two of them, but you can’t treat them the same,” said Giuliani, condemning moral equivalence between the two parties. The US, he said, should “reject the whole notion of a two-state solution in Israel.”
Giuliani has been a close adviser to the GOP nominee for several months. Trump’s two top Israel aides, Jason Greenblatt and David Friedman, have also advised the candidate to abandon hopes of two states for two peoples living peacefully side by side.
That position– geared toward two states– is publicly embraced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who reiterated this hope for a peaceful resolution to the decades-old conflict earlier this week at the UN General Assembly.
“It’s not in the interest of Israel to have a terrorist state on its border,” Giuliani concluded, adding: “It would not be the interests of my country to create a new haven for terrorists.”
Giuliani also took the opportunity to slam the nuclear deal reached with Iran last year.
“The ayatollah is insane. The people around him are insane,” Giuliani said, calling them “suicidal homicidal maniacs.”