Gadi Eisenkot, the main challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of Israel's October elections, has come out firmly against a two-state solution, calling the vision of an independent Palestinian state existing peacefully alongside Israel a "bitter mistake."
The former military chief made the remarks in an interview with the newspaper Israel Hayom (Israel Today), which was published on Thursday.
Eisenkot's centrist Yashar! (Honest!) party could replace Netanyahu's conservative Likud party as the largest faction in parliament after the October 27 election, according to current polls. However, neither Netanyahu's camp nor the opposition can count on an absolute majority.
Eisenkot had previously been criticized for failing to state his position clearly on a two-state solution.
In comments to Israel Hayom, he said anyone still considering a two-state solution after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, is "simply crazy." He also pointed out that his sister lives in a settlement in the occupied West Bank.
At the same time, Eisenkot criticized the conduct of far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich in the West Bank.
This, along with settler violence against Palestinians, was causing Israel to lose legitimacy internationally and was endangering the entire settlement movement, the 66-year-old said.
Eisenkot also spoke out against the planned settlement project in the E1 area between East Jerusalem and the Maale Adumim settlement, saying such a move was damaging to Israel internationally.
The construction drive pushed by the Netanyahu government has drawn sharp international criticism, as it could effectively divide the West Bank into a northern and a southern part, making a contiguous Palestinian territory - and therefore a two-state solution - considerably more difficult, if not impossible.
The Israeli government opposes a sovereign Palestinian state primarily on security grounds, fearing that such a state could become a base for attacks on Israel.
Netanyahu therefore insists that Israel retain security control west of the River Jordan even in the event of a political solution.
Far-right members of the government are pushing for Israel to annex the territory.