Israel’s leaders talk about security, but what happened to peace? - opinion

An opinion piece argues that the word 'peace' has disappeared from Israeli political discourse since October 7, tracking Netanyahu's declining use of the term in UN speeches from 42 mentions in 2023 to one in 2026. The authors note opposition figures also avoid the term and call for a renewed political vision beyond military victories.

An opinion piece by Yaakov Katz and Peter Lerner argues that the word 'peace' has effectively vanished from Israeli political discourse since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack. The authors track Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's use of the term in his annual UN speeches: 42 mentions in 2023, dropping to 21 in 2024, 13 in 2025, and just one in September 2026. They note that in 2023, many references were tied to Palestinians, but subsequent speeches linked peace to Saudi Arabia, Iran war consequences, and potential agreements with Syria and Lebanon, not Palestinians. The article asserts that opposition figures also avoid the term: Naftali Bennett opposes a Palestinian state, Gadi Eisenkot called a two-state solution 'delusional,' and Yair Golan rarely discusses peace. The authors attribute this shift to the October 7 attack, which changed Israeli thinking on security, territory, and deterrence, making territorial control and buffer zones seen as existential. They argue that removing peace from the vocabulary hands Hamas a strategic victory and that military success must be converted into political outcomes. The piece calls for a new approach to peace that includes verifiable demilitarization, enforceable security, transformed Palestinian governance, and rejection of terrorism.