US lawmakers rush to congratulate Netanyahu, ignore his abandonment of two-state solution http://t.co/NMn9xtZT1t pic.twitter.com/CjIr86v9Oj

— ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) March 18, 2015

That’s a feature, not a bug. Many of these folks seem to think that a 2-state solution (or 3-state) or any kind of peace process isn’t workable. So, hearing Bibi saying he’d never accept a 2-state solution, and wont divide Jerusalem is music to their ears.

Frankly, though, you can’t trust anything Bibi says. The Israeli govt continues to have backchannels with Hamas and the PA through direct and indirect means. Netanyahu himself has warned about the demographics of not having a 2-state solution (though that too presents problems in how he perceives Arabs, minorities, and even the Orthodox Jews - demographics is an issue for all plurality and equality in Israel, and making these kinds of pronouncements - whether that there’s a demographic bomb waiting to go off, or a refusal to consider a 2-state solution - is a huge problem for which he offers no solution.

That’s why I think he has gone and said outlandish stuff for the sake of winning reelection. It’s not going to be a true reflection of what the Israeli govt actually does. Frankly, I see the Netanyahu government continuing to fumble and stumble along. I can even see another round of fighting with Hamas down the road with the same kind of muddled outcome where Palestinians suffer casualties far in excess of Israelis, but Gaza takes another pounding and Hamas declares victory while Israelis wonder just how their security has improved with yet another war with Hamas that hasn’t admitted defeat in a generation.