National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that it was the Biden administration’s belief long-term peace in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict can only be accomplished by a two-state solution.
Partial transcript as follows:
STEPHANOPOULOS: What is the end game here? Do you see any prospect at all – he seems to have been ruling it out, Prime Minister Netanyahu, of some kind of a long-term deal that leads to a Palestinian state?
SULLIVAN: Well, the U.S. position on this is very straightforward. The only long-term answer to peace in the region, to Israel’s security in the region, is a two-state solution, with Israel’s security guaranteed. A Palestinian state that also has security guarantees for Israel. That’s what we’re going to keep working for.
We were doing that before October 7th. I think since October 7th the need to work on that has only increased and we would like to deliver an outcome over time that has illuded administrations of both parties for decades that is in the best interests, we believe, of everyone in the region and in the wider world.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Will it require a new Israeli government?
SULLIVAN: Well, I’m not going to get into Israeli politics. The U.S. can only advance our vision for what we think makes sense. And President Biden has been very clear about that. He’s been clear publicly on the two-state solution, he’s been clear privately in speaking with Prime Minister Netanyahu, and we have to let the Israelis speak for themselves.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Meantime, the president has been pushing hard for more aid to Israel, more aid to Ukraine. He’s tied it to those negotiations over a possible border deal in the Senate as well. But last night we heard from the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, that he’s going to put a provision on the floor this week that simply is aid to Israel. Your reaction?
SULLIVAN: Well, the timing is interesting. The senators have been working on a bipartisan basis for weeks, if not months at this point, on a comprehensive package that involves Israel, Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific and the border. They are getting close to having that done. And at that moment the House comes forward with an Israel only bill. We regard that not as actually trying to address the security of Israel, but rather trying to address politics in the United States.
And from our perspective, the security of Israel should be sacred. It should not be a political game. And so, everyone should get behind a comprehensive package of the kind that a bipartisan Senate — a bipartisan group of senators are negotiating as we speak.
STEPHANOPOULOS: No indication that the House is going to do that. So, if they pass it and it gets to the Senate, would the president veto it if it came to his desk?
SULLIVAN: The president is going to support a comprehensive package. He doesn’t think doing these things piecemeal makes sense, and we think we will get an opportunity for the Senate to move forward with a package. And then the real question should be put to the House, not to the president about how to move forward with that bipartisan deal. If that deal came to his desk, he would absolutely sign it without hesitation.
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