Day 721 - Lazar Berman: Who's afraid of a Palestinian state?
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 26 September 2025
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to The Times of Israel's newest podcast series, Friday Focus. Each Friday, join host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan and diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman for a deep dive into what's behind the news that spins the globe.
On Sunday, the tally of the 193 UN members who recognize a State of Palestine grew to at least 145 as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Portugal formally joined their ranks.
Several other countries, including France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Malta, followed suit during a summit on the future of the two-state solution chaired by France and Saudi Arabia on Monday at United Nations headquarters in New York.
We discuss why these states believe that this recognition is an anti-Hamas gesture and may kick off negotiations to end the war in Gaza.
Israel, for its part, thinks that the recognition is a prize for terror: On this, Hamas appeared to agree, thanking the UK and Canada and calling their action a “victory.”
This week, Berman delves into the knotty issue of Palestinian statehood and potentially unforeseen ripple effects.
Friday Focus can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.
IMAGE: Lazar Berman (courtesy) / A sticker on a desk reads 'State of Palestine' at the Palestinian mission to France, one day after France recognized Palestinian statehood, September 23, 2025, in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Times of Israel's Friday Focus. I'm your host, Amanda Borsal-Dahn, here with our |
| 0:08.5 | diplomatic correspondent, Laser Berman. Laser, thank you so much for joining me in our Jerusalem |
| 0:13.2 | office. Great to be here, as always. Shana Tova, what should we be saying now? Moadim La Simcha, |
| 0:19.3 | something like that? No, certainly not. Certainly not. Gmara chathema tova. Oh, are we already at that stage of Gmara chatima tova? May you be written in the book of life that stage? Yeah, more or less, yeah. Okay. That's more or less the translation. Yeah, we're wishing ourselves to be, you know, sealed in the coming days for a good |
| 0:40.2 | year, the book of life, and all the other blessings that we may be praying for. |
| 0:45.7 | And we're going to say that to each other until after Yom Kippur, essentially? |
| 0:49.7 | Yes. |
| 0:50.4 | All right, so, gmah, haitima tova. |
| 0:52.6 | You too. |
| 0:53.5 | All right. So let's begin our podcast, though. That did |
| 0:56.3 | definitely sound like an ending. And it's been quite a week. Of course, we had Rosh Hashanah, right, |
| 1:02.3 | in the middle of the week. But just before Rosh Hashanah, on Sunday, the tally of the 193 U.N. members who recognized a state of Palestine moved up to at least |
| 1:15.1 | 145 as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Portugal formally joined their ranks. |
| 1:23.7 | Several other countries, including France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Malta |
| 1:27.9 | followed suit during a summit on the future of the two-state solution |
| 1:31.8 | that was chaired by France and Saudi Arabia on Monday at the United Nations headquarters in New York. |
| 1:39.2 | So we are going to discuss whether this is at all significant after the break. |
| 1:52.6 | What does it mean for countries to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN? |
| 1:58.3 | What really makes a state? |
| 2:04.2 | And why does this issue provoke such outrage from some and hope from others? On unpacking Israeli history, host Noam Weisman explores these |
| 2:12.1 | questions in a special series on Palestinian statehood, with voices from across the spectrum, Samir Sinejlawi, Michael |
| 2:19.9 | Koppelau, Ahmed Fuad al-Katib, and Aynat Wilf, he traces the story from the British mandate to |
... |
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