***STATEMENT***

Council Member Gennaro’s Rebuttal of Pope Leo’s Recent Call for a

Two-State Solution for the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

“As an observant Catholic, educated in Catholic institutions, and as a member of the New York

City Council representing many Catholic parishes and Catholic institutions in Queens, I hold

Pope Leo in the highest regard for his unwavering commitment to peace and justice in a world

too often torn by conflict. His recent remarks in Istanbul, advocating for a two-state solution as

the only path to lasting harmony for Israelis and Palestinians, reflect a profound moral aspiration

that resonates with the teachings of our faith on reconciliation and human dignity.

However, with respect, I must underscore that Israel has repeatedly extended olive branches

toward a two-state framework – through negotiations like the Camp David Accords in 2000, the

Annapolis Conference in 2007, and many other earnest efforts – only to face consistent rejection.

The actions and declarations of Palestinian leadership and much of the Palestinian populace

reveal a deeper conviction: that the land “from the river to the sea” rightfully belongs solely to

them, leaving no room for a sovereign Jewish state.

This stance, enshrined in charters and echoed in public rhetoric, completely undermines any

genuine pursuit of coexistence on the part of the Palestinians. The record shows clearly that the

Palestinians have never pursued a two-state solution and have consistently rejected two-state

solutions – even when offered a state that was crafted to what the Palestinians purportedly

desired.

Were the Palestinians to seek or accept their own state, that would mean accepting the existence

of the current Jewish State of Israel, something the Palestinian leadership will never do, which

the Palestinian leadership endlessly proclaims.And, when Israel unilaterally turned over Gaza to the Palestinians, rather than living in peaceful

co-existence with Israel, Gaza was converted into a strategic base for Hamas to fire missiles and

wage unspeakable carnage on innocent Israeli civilians on October 7th.

So, such well-intentioned calls for mediation by Pope Leo overlook a century of history marked

by wars and aggressions initiated against Israel, from the 1948 War of Independence to the Yom

Kippur War of 1973 and beyond, all aimed at taking by force the entirety of the land of Israel

rather than living side by side with Israel in peace. It’s one thing for Pope Leo to have an

aspirational wish for a different reality, but another to ignore the current and long-running state

of affairs in which the Palestinian leadership has made it clear that their only aspiration is to kill

Jews – not co-exist with them.

The only place that Israeli and Muslim co-existence happens in the region is within the State of

Israel, where Muslims live in peace with Jews, run businesses, hold elected office, and are full

partners in Israeli society. In my humble opinion, that is the reality that the Pontiff should point

to as an example and beseech the Palestinians, with all the unequaled worldwide moral authority

that Pope Leo possesses, to ask the Palestinians to emulate. For the Pope to not do this and to

instead continue to advance a fantasy roadmap to Israeli-Palestinian peace is to mislead the more

than 1.4 billion Catholics in the world into blaming Israeli intransigence for that region’s

tensions.

As I stated above, time and again, Israel has offered the Palestinians a homeland. It is the

Palestinians that have refused to accept it. Pope Leo, in my opinion, should urge the Palestinians

to recognize Israel’s right to exist and use that as the starting point for lasting peace between

Israel and the Palestinians.

Moreover, the alarming surge in antisemitic incidents worldwide stems directly from a moral

lapse among leaders and influencers who blur the lines between Israel’s rightful self-defense and

the genocidal ambitions of terrorist groups like Hamas, whose explicit goal is the annihilation of

Jews. True justice demands clarity on this distinction to foster real peace, not illusions that

perpetuate suffering.”