Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar attends a joint press conference with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani (not pictured), in Rome, Italy, Jan. 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said on Tuesday that granting statehood to the Palestinians at this time would result in a terrorist-controlled “Hamas state,” commenting on the issue hours after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken endorsed the recognition of a Palestinian state.

“In the current situation, establishing a Palestinian state will surely be a Hamas state,” Sa’ar told a reporter who asked about Blinken’s comments during a joint press conference with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in Rome.

“A Hamas state will not only not solve the conflict, but will deteriorate security, peace, and stability of the region,” the top Israeli diplomat added.

Hamas, an internationally designated terrorist group, ruled the Palestinian enclave of Gaza for nearly two decades and repeatedly attacked Israel before launching its invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, starting a 15-month war with the Jewish state.

Amid the Gaza war, some European countries last year officially recognized a Palestinian state, arguing such a move would help foster a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and lead to lasting peace in the region. The move promoted outrage in Israel, which described the decision as a “reward for terrorism” and an “incitement to genocide” against the Jewish people.

Sa’ar also addressed the Palestinian Authority (PA), which has long been riddled with allegations of corruption and authoritarianism while governing the Palestinians in the West Bank

“There is a reason why the Palestinian Authority didn’t make elections since 2005,” he said, seemingly acknowledging polling showing the PA’s unpopularity with the general Palestinian population, a large portion of which says it prefers Hamas.

Sa’ar argued that, in order for the PA to become a possible peace partner, Ramallah must stop its policy of rewarding terrorists.

“If they will stop poisoning the minds of future generations, we might have a chance to go forward in a path for real peace,” he said.

The PA has long had a so-called “pay for slay” program, which makes official payments to Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, the families of “martyrs” killed in attacks on Israelis, and injured Palestinian terrorists.

Meanwhile, studies by both nonprofits and governmental bodies have shown for years that Palestinian textbooks for schoolchildren promote antisemitic incitement and violence.

Sa’ar’s comments came after Blinken said in a speech that Israel “must embrace a time-bound, conditions-based path toward forming an independent Palestinian state.”

“Israel will have to accept reuniting Gaza and the West Bank under the leadership of a reformed PA,” Blinken said while presenting his proposal for the “day after” the war in Gaza at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, DC.

The top US diplomat argued that the PA was the “only viable alternative” to Iran-backed Hamas but that the Israeli government was undermining its “capacity and legitimacy.”

During his speech, Blinken outlined a plan in which the PA and international partners would “run an interim administration,” which in turn would “hand over complete responsibility to a fully reformed PA administration as soon as it’s feasible.”

Sa’ar, who was in Italy as part of a broader diplomatic tour in Europe, had to cut his visit to the continent short and fly home overnight on Wednesday to take part in security cabinet and government discussions over the newly announced Israel-Hamas ceasefire, which is meant to halt fighting in Gaza and release the hostages kidnapped during Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught.