When democratic leaders endorse a Palestinian state with Hamas still holding hostages and power in Gaza — as many are this week at the United Nations — I wince.

That’s not Jewish paranoia or un-Zionist pessimism – it’s healthy realism and self-preservation. Read through the French statement’s diplomatic verbiage. It confirms that this push advances the campaign to bully Israel to do Europe’s bidding: “This strong act of diplomacy is also a contribution to the momentum that is building around the reformulation of a political horizon, one that is necessary in order to make the ceasefire … a concrete and permanent reality.” Hammer, meet nail.

Some Zionists, desperate for anything to restore the prospect of peace to an Israel at war, have endorsed the moves. Their craving for a sign of hope reflects the admirable Zionist instincts to be tree-planters, not just firefighters.

But they are misguided – especially less than two years after Hamas’s Oct. 7 bloodbath, with Hamas still holding 48 hostages. Predictably, Hamas has rejoiced that calls for a Palestinian state “represent political and moral pressure” on Israel. Clearly, Hamas and many Palestinians recognize these moves as blows to Israel, rewards for their Oct. 7 barbarism, and disincentives to release the hostages and surrender, which would end Gazans’ misery.

That’s why, when Zionists endorse Palestinian statehood in the name of Zionism — now, in........

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