Former Israeli negotiator Daniel Levy gave the Michael Bell Annual lecture on the Middle East at Carleton University on March 11. He took direct aim at those liberal Zionists who hope it will all be better after Netanyahu leaves. Read more and see the video of his presentation.

Daniel Levy had a sobering message for those who still hope for some kind of “peace agreement” between Israel and the Palestinians. He has some experience. Mr. Levy served as an Israeli negotiator in peace talks with Palestinian leaders under Israeli Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin and again under Ehud Barak.

Levy is currently President of the US Middle East Project. He has become a forthright supporter of human rights for Palestinians and fierce critic of the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Because of his inside knowledge of Israeli politics and the process of Israeli/Palestinian negotiations, he is frequently invited to speak at the UN Security Council. 

He described an “all or nothing” attitude prevalent in Israel – not only in its current political leadership, but throughout Israeli society.

He argued that Jewish Israeli society thinks it sees an opportunity to get rid of the Palestinian issue once and for all.

He’s not wrong. Israeli public opinion polls conducted throughout the Gaza assault indicate a consistent trend in Jewish Israeli society.  Polled in May 2025, 82% of Jewish Israelis supported the total expulsion of Gaza’s residents. In August 2025, 79% were not concerned with starvation in Gaza. Today, 93% of Israeli Jews support the US/Israeli assault on Iran. And as for the future, a recent poll reveals that young Jewish voters are the most right-wing, fanatically religious, and pro-genocide in Israeli history.

Surprisingly, there was no challenge to Levy’s provocative remarks from the audience of a hundred or so composed mostly of faculty and students. It isn’t clear whether this is because they agreed with his analysis, or because they were uncomfortable to share their own views.

The entire 64 minute presentation including Q and A is HERE and is worth listening to. The video includes a transcript timestamps.

A few excerpts from the Levy’s presentation

41:36 “raises a very fundamental question about foundations and whether the Zionist project itself is incompatible with Palestinian rights and whether an ethnostate can live in peace with its neighbours.“

42:04 “what I’m saying is that we are in a total victory zero sum trajectory and very little suggests that will stop.“

42:51 “for the carriers of that zero sum Zionist flame, this is the moment to finish the job. They are very open about this. There’s nothing discreet or subtle about the goal of definitively ending the Palestinian question and removing the Palestinians. So, one scenario which I take seriously and there’s questions of timeline. Do you do it fast? Do you do it slow? Is Gaza isn’t the end of this? And whether it’s through eradication, through ethnic cleansing, through encouraging out migration, through a push into Jordan, and believe me, people in Jordan take this prospect very seriously.“

44:18 “When you set up a zero-sum equation, you better be sure that there’s only one possible outcome. That zero sum can only apply to the success of your side and the vanquishing of the other side. There are significant vulnerabilities and frailties on the Israeli side. I speak to my friends who are kind of clinging on to liberal Zionism and think “if we can only get rid of Bibi.”

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