Rachel Abrams

And yet, despite that, he still had this defiant tone as he talked, which I think really underscored the fact that Israel, even as it's become more and more isolated on the world stage, Netanyahu has continued to dig his heels in.

And that was very evident during his speech at the U.N.

Obviously, the U.S.

is Israel's strongest ally.

But on the question of Palestinian statehood, which, of course, is what Netanyahu is so angry about, why does the U.S.

's position matter so much?

And did this plan say anything explicitly about statehood?

What do we make of that?

The fact that all these European countries had come out in support of a Palestinian state and now are supporting a plan that seems to heavily favor Israel, right?

It sort of feels like Netanyahu is kind of talking out of both sides of his mouth, right?

Because on the one hand, he gets up at this press conference and he unveils this plan that gives a cursory nod to the possibility of statehood if like 15 unlikely things happen first.

And then in Hebrew, he's basically saying, over my dead body.

And...

Whatever he wants to do, thus far, he's basically had the backing of the United States, even as there's been this growing list of countries that say they support Palestinian statehood.

And so I wonder, where does all of this leave the prospect of a Palestinian state in your mind?

Mark, our colleague Jess earlier spoke to Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the U.N., and he sounded so optimistic about the real possibility of a Palestinian state.

And I wonder, just listening to everything that you've outlined, do you think that that optimism is misplaced?

Mark, thank you so much.

We'll be right back.

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