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US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield addressed the UN Security Council Briefing on the Situation in the Middle East Wednesday, during which she reiterated the Biden Administration's support for the Two-State Solution.

"From day one, the Biden Administration has been unequivocal in our support for a two-state solution. That has not changed. As President Biden made clear to the UN General Assembly last week, “A negotiated two-state solution remains…the best way to ensure Israel’s security and prosperity for the future and give the Palestinians the state...to which they are entitled,” Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield said.

She praised both Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas for endorsing the Two-State Solution during their speeches at the UN General Assembly last week: "And we are not alone in pushing for such a peace. In fact, the hall of the General Assembly was filled with calls for a two-state solution during High-Level Week. Prime Minister Lapid made a courageous and impassioned speech that articulated his vision of “two states for two peoples.” The significance of his appeal for peace between Israelis and Palestinians should not be underestimated. "

"And I also want to acknowledge President Abbas’s stated commitment to non-violence and reaffirmation of his support for a two-state solution.," she said.

As soon as it emerged that Israel’s acting Prime Minister Yair Lapid would tell the United Nations General Assembly this week that he supports the establishment of a Palestinian state, he was engulfed by outrage, incredulity and dismay. 

Critics charged that he was endangering Israel’s security by seeking to establish a terrorist state on land to which Israel is lawfully entitled. This, they said, would incentivize yet more Palestinian terrorism.

In his actual remarks, Lapid appeared to row back from an earlier briefing by an official that he would say, “Israel must move toward a two-state solution.” Maybe as a sop to his critics, he confined himself instead to bland support for a “peaceful” Palestinian state.

Nevertheless, this was the first time in many years that an Israeli leader expressed support for such a state at the U.N.—and at a time when Palestinian radicalization and terror attacks are increasing.

Of course, Lapid’s initiative has gone down well with the left, which believes the Arab-Israeli conflict is a dispute over territorial boundaries fueled by the supposedly extremist Jewish belief in a biblical entitlement to the Land of Israel.