In an extended interview with UnHerd this week, Israeli Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely was confronted with a historic statement in which she claimed that “between the sea and the Jordan River, there needs to be one state, only the state of Israel.” Despite referencing the rhyme back in 2015, when making the case for a one-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, Hotovely maintained that “from the river to the sea” is a genocidal chant when used by pro-Palestine protesters. 

Recent weeks have seen hundreds of thousands of people across Europe march for a “free Palestine”. Some countries have taken a hard line on protests, with France attempting a total ban on pro-Palestine rallies and Berlin suggesting a ban on keffiyeh scarves in schools. Hotovely spoke to UnHerd’s Freddie Sayers about the policing of speech and discussed whether pro-Palestinian protests on the streets of London are calling for the end of Israel — or perhaps something even more radical. 

Hotovely, who has been in her current role since 2020, has been outspoken in her support for a one-state solution and has strongly opposed the freeze on settlement construction. After the Ambassador stated that “from the river to the sea” is a genocidal chant, Sayers pointed out:

Hotovely responded: 

Met with the suggestion that protestors in the West are unlikely to be calling for genocide, and that it’s more probable that “free Palestine” means Arabs living in harmony with Jews in a country called Palestine, Hotovely denied that activists’ intentions tend to be benign: