Responding to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration that he will begin annexation if re-elected, Daniel Sokatch, CEO of the New Israel Fund (NIF), released the following statement:

“We stand at a defining moment in history. In the choice among Israel’s Jewish character, its democracy, and its control of the Palestinian territories, we can choose two, but not all three. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s explicit endorsement of annexation has stopped the clock: that choice must be made now.

“If Netanyahu pushes the country into the unilateral and illegal annexation of Palestinian territories, abandoning the 1967 borders and blowing up decades of stated Israeli, American, and internationally-agreed policy, there will be no democratic Israel.

“Two paths lie before us: one that will keep Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza locked into an intolerable reality without basic rights and freedoms; the same path that will destroy the dream of millions of Jewish people to achieve self-determination in a Jewish and democratic state, for which Netanyahu will have to accept responsibility. The other path leads to self-determination for Jews and Palestinians in two democratic states with equality for all.

“The time has come for all who care about the people of Israel and Palestine to choose wisely. I call upon my colleagues in Israel, in the American Jewish community and around the world to stand firmly against annexation.”