Last week [July 25], senior members of the Jewish community in the United States congratulated, in writing, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, thanking him for his consent to start negotiations with the Palestinian leadership to reach a solution for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. According to them, such a solution would prevent Israel from becoming a binational state, thus jeopardizing the future of the Jewish state.

Initiated by the Israel Policy Forum, the letter was signed, among others, by prominent mainstream figures of the Jewish community, including former Sen. Joe Lieberman, professor Alan Dershowitz and Dov Zakheim, who served as adviser to Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Other signatories to the letter include former congressmen Gary Ackerman, Howard Berman, Barney Frank, Mel Levine and Robert Wexler. The letter was also signed by renowned businessmen and philanthropists, including Daniel Abraham, Robert Belfer, Charles Bronfman, Lester Crown, Irwin Jacobs and Stanley Gold. Another signatory was former AIPAC executive director Tom Dine.

"We recognize that achieving a two-state solution will require a territorial compromise that provides for a Palestinian state without jeopardizing Israel’s security. That is why we applaud your understanding that one must be “willing to make painful compromises to achieve this historic peace.” It is our hope that President Mahmoud Abbas will be similarly prepared to make the difficult decisions that achieving an agreement will require," the Jewish leaders wrote in their letter.