Haaretz Toronto conference explores prospects for Palestinian sovereignty after Gaza war
Dahlia Scheindlin speaking at the Haaretz Conference in Toronto, Canada, 14 September 2025
Haaretz reports on the Haaretz Toronto Conference on 15 September 2025:
If Israel moves ahead with its plans to conquer Gaza City, the consequences would be dire, prominent Israeli opposition figures and experts warned on Sunday at a special Haaretz conference held in Toronto.
The speakers urged Canadian and other Western leaders to use their clout to bring an immediate end to the war and lay the groundwork for Palestinian sovereignty.
Demanding an immediate end to “this war of annihilation,” Israeli-Arab lawmaker Ayman Odeh, leader of the Hadash party, told conference participants: “Enough of war. Enough of bloodshed. Enough of destruction. Enough of atrocities. Because a mother from Rafah and a mother from Nir Oz cry out the same cry: Enough! This is what is needed now, and this is what the majority of the people demand: Stop the war of destruction in Gaza. Bring a comprehensive deal that will save lives.”
The full-day conference, titled “Israel, Gaza, and What Comes Next,” was jointly sponsored by the New Israel Fund of Canada and JSpaceCanada, both progressive Jewish organizations critical of the Israeli government. The speakers included current and former Israeli and Canadian politicians, journalists, academics, and Israeli and Palestinian peace advocates.
The recognition of a Palestinian state, Odeh told the crowd, was not a “prize,” but rather a “basic right.”
Dan Meridor – a former Israeli justice minister who spent most of his political career in Netanyahu’s Likud party – charged that the government’s mishandling of the war in Gaza has jeopardized Israel’s international standing and moral authority. “Wars cannot take long. You need to understand, when you decide to go to war, you must limit the time, even if you are right,” he said. “If you are too strong, you become a villain. If you are too weak, you become the underdog.” To preserve Israel’s democratic and Jewish character, Meridor said, a two-state-solution was essential. “There is no Jewish state without a Palestinian state,” he said.
Netanyahu’s goals
Noting that IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir had opposed the government plan to conquer Gaza City, calling it a “death trap,” Yair Golan, leader of the Democrats party (a merger between Labor and Meretz), warned that the outcome could get “much worse. Why? Because it’s very wrong to think that this government has no true goals concerning the ongoing campaign in the Gaza Strip,” he said in a conversation at the conference with Haaretz Editor-in-Chief Aluf Benn.
“They have goals. The goal of the ultra-messianic element in the government is to occupy the Gaza Strip and to resettle in the Gaza Strip. It’s a very clear, defined goal. The goal of Netanyahu is to keep an emergency situation from here to eternity – well, not to eternity, but until he is able to gain enough political power and go to the next election campaigns from a position of superiority. This is the goal.”
Calling the Democrats “the only opposition party in Israel today,” Golan sketched out a plan for the rehabilitation of Gaza that could be implemented once the current Israeli government was ousted. “We can bring in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan as a common project with Israel,” said the former IDF deputy chief of staff. “Upon that, we can build a different relationship with the region. We can consolidate an alliance of the moderates in the Middle East.”
Asked whether he supported recognizing a Palestinian state at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly, Golan said that while his party “still supports the two-state solution,” he did not believe it was currently “practical and realistic,” noting that Israel was still “a nation in trauma” following the October 7 attack. Golan proposed returning to the 2003 Roadmap for Peace outlined by President George W. Bush, which provided a phase-by-phase approach to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, culminating with the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state.
The opposition leader said he believed Israel’s annexation campaign could still be reversed. “From knowing the terrain and the people, it is still possible to divide,” he said. “Annexation is a disaster. Separation is salvation.”
The Democrats are thus far the only opposition party to express willingness to form a coalition with Arab parties after the next election. Explaining the party’s position, Golan said in the interview: “To say we don’t want Arabs in government is outrageous. If someone elsewhere said they didn’t want Jews in government, we would call it antisemitism.”
Addressing the severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza, MK Naama Lazimi, also from the Democrats, suggested that Israel bears responsibility. “We need to speak honestly about the war in Gaza,” she said in remarks delivered at the conference. “There is hunger there. There are children without water or medicine. There is a profound humanitarian disaster. This is not only a Palestinian tragedy; it is also a moral stain and a security risk for Israel. That is not the humane path, it is not the Jewish or Zionist way, and it is certainly not the Israeli spirit.” Lazimi claimed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government had chosen “destruction over hope.” The best way to defeat terror, she said, was not by dragging out the war, but rather by “building an alternative.” “The alternative to terror and war are secure peace agreements, and most Israelis want peace if it means security,” said Lazimi.
‘In our name’
Amos Harel, Haaretz’s senior military analyst, was pessimistic about the prospects of a quick end to the war. “It will probably get worse before there’s any hope of getting better,” he said, noting that a ceasefire would jeopardize Netanyahu’s far-right coalition. “Netanyahu is about to give an order to try to move forces inside Gaza City, not only the outskirts,” he said. “The IDF chiefs fear this could go terribly wrong, and that there’s a clear and present danger to the lives of both soldiers and hostages.”
Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, director of the Realign for Palestine project at the Atlantic Council, said he himself felt encouraged by growing opposition to Hamas in Gaza. “Tens of thousands of Palestinians, if given the chance, would rise up and be a part of the new nation-building,” said Alkhatib, who was born in Gaza and is known as a fierce critic of the Palestinian leadership in both Gaza and the West Bank.
Ben Murane, executive director of the New Israel Fund of Canada, suggested that the Canadian Jewish establishment, which tends to refrain from criticism of Israel, did not represent the majority of Canadian Jews. “Repeated opinion polls show the majority of us oppose this Israeli government, support a two-state solution, and vote for center-left or left parties,” he said, adding that “it’s time that more of our voices be heard.” In a similar vein,
Maytal Kowalski, executive director of JSpaceCanada, urged progressive Canadian Jews not to keep silent if they oppose Israel’s actions. “When we show up as Jews, let’s own it,” she said. “Let’s say the things done in Israel are in our name and we need to contend with that. We need to grapple more honestly within the Jewish community with what connection actually means and what position we take.” The Canadian government, she said, should use its power to influence Israeli policy. By taking “quick, bold action around the occupied West Bank,” said Kowalski, it might even help salvage the two-state solution.
In his opening remarks at the conference, Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken also underscored the need for a two-state solution. “Had Netanyahu accepted the idea of a Palestinian state two years ago, the number of dead hostages, dead Israeli soldiers, and dead Palestinians would have been far, far lower,” he said. Citing Canada’s July statement supporting conditional recognition of Palestinian statehood, Schocken asserted that the prospects for peace, though fading, still exist. “On Friday at the United Nations, 142 countries voted to endorse the French-Saudi program for a two-state solution,” he noted. “The advantages are clear: ending the bloody Gaza war, granting dignity to Palestinians, eliminating terror, and building an economic partnership that benefits both peoples.”
He warned, however, that Netanyahu’s government is barreling in the opposite direction. “Netanyahu reiterated, loudly and clearly: ‘There will never be a Palestinian state,'” Schocken told conference participants, decrying the coalition’s plans to annex large parts of the West Bank and expand settlements as a “war crime of ethnic cleansing.” Haaretz’s publisher urged the international community, including Canada, to push back more strongly against extremist forces in the region. “Every country that cares about a humane, fair future must work in close collaboration with those in Israel and Palestine committed to justice and human rights,” he said. “It has never been more crucial, or urgent, for this call to be made.”
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