Rachel Abrams

I'm Rachel Abrams.

See you tomorrow.

From The New York Times, I'm Rachel Abrams, and this is The Daily.

It's been nearly two years since Hamas carried out its deadly attacks on Israel on October 7th, and Israel began its bombardment of Gaza.

Since then, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has only worsened, and Hamas is still holding hostages.

But the images of Palestinian suffering have lately fueled international pressure on Israel to end the war and pushed Western powers to recognize a Palestinian state.

This culminated last week at the United Nations, where a group of world leaders formally recognized Palestinian statehood, which deepened Israel's isolation.

But just a week later, a new peace plan unveiled by President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underscored the reality that Palestinian statehood is a long way off.

Today, the optimism and the fury of this moment and what this recognition actually means.

It's Friday, October 3rd.

Jess Chung, you are one of the producers on our show.

And last week, you spent time on the ground at the UN to document this historic moment in which the question of Palestinian statehood was really front and center.

So talk to us a little bit about what you were there to capture.

After the break, my colleague Mark Landler on what this recognition means without the support of Israel and the United States.

Mark, you have covered this story for decades, the Israel-Palestinian conflict and the fight for Palestinian statehood.

Yes, I have.

Which is why we're turning to you to help us understand what happened not just last week at the U.N., but also earlier this week when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House, where he stood next to President Trump as President Trump presented this new plan to end the war.

I want to start with the U.N., where the overwhelming support for Palestinian statehood infuriated Netanyahu.

Can you walk us through what happened that day?

I watched Netanyahu's speech and I was really struck by how many representatives from other countries literally walked out of the hall as he took the stage.