German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s visit to Yad Vashem is the jumping-off point for a stark argument by Rabbi Abraham Cooper and Daniel Schuster: after October 7, a Palestinian state is off the table for the foreseeable future—not because Israelis hate the idea of partition, but because they no longer see anyone trustworthy to make peace with.
In their opinion piece [1], Cooper and Schuster describe Merz’s message in Jerusalem as twofold: Germany is ending its informal arms freeze on Israel, buying Iron Dome to protect German skies, while still calling a two-state solution “the best prospect for the future.” For the authors, that line sounds like it was preserved in diplomatic amber from the Oslo years and ignores what Israelis saw on and after October 7, when Hamas gunmen murdered civilians in border communities widely identified with the peace camp.
Give the gift of hope
We practice what we preach:
accurate, fearless journalism. But we can't do it alone.
- On the ground in Gaza, Syria, Israel, Egypt, Pakistan, and more
- Our program trained more than 100 journalists
- Calling out fake news and reporting real facts
- On the ground in Gaza, Syria, Israel, Egypt, Pakistan, and more
- Our program trained more than 100 journalists
- Calling out fake news and reporting real facts
Join us.
Support The Media Line. Save democracy.
The essay’s core indictment is aimed not only at Hamas but at the Palestinian Authority and the UN Relief and Works Agency. Cooper and Schuster detail how UNRWA schools erased Israel from maps and fed generations of students on “war curriculum,” while Hamas built an underground “city of terror” under civilian infrastructure. They argue that Ramallah’s “pay-to-slay” stipends and official glorification of attackers destroy any remaining Israeli confidence in Palestinian statehood.
Their prescription is blunt: shut down UNRWA, cut off automatic European support for existing Palestinian power structures, and channel German and European aid only to transparent, openly pro-peace actors—teachers, doctors, journalists, and grassroots leaders who reject terror. If Europe wants influence, they say, Israel will turn to Berlin, not Paris or London.
Readers who want to understand why so many Israelis now view a Palestinian state as a nonstarter will find Cooper and Schuster’s full piece [1] a bracing, uncompromising read.