Among the thousands of lines written in recent days about the cultural clash between Israeli artists and Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev and the exploits of Knesset member Oren Hazan, astute readers managed to find a few words about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. My colleague Ben Caspit wrote for Al-Monitor June 10 that the need to renew negotiations and return to the two-state solution is once again getting significant mileage in the speeches of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He assessed that the speech Netanyahu delivered at the Herzliya diplomatic gathering was “a first, cautious trial balloon of sorts for what political sources in Israel call his ‘autumn restart.’” Caspit was referring specifically to a diplomatic initiative that Netanyahu will set in motion as soon as the Iranian issue is off the table at the end of June (if an agreement is indeed reached between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany).

Caspit listed the aims of the initiative one by one: getting Isaac Herzog’s Zionist Camp into Netanyahu's coalition; rehabilitating the relationship with the United States; easing the growing tensions between Israel and Europe and the international community; and hampering the boycotts and delegitimization campaign being conducted against Israel in recent months. Indeed, these goals individually and collectively serve the interests of the State of Israel. Nonetheless, this important list is lacking.

What happened to such goals as ending the occupation, ending the conflict with the Palestinians and preserving Israel’s character as a Jewish and democratic state? This is even before asking Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon for his views on the initiative. Hint: On June 9, Ya’alon said he does not believe a stable agreement with the Palestinians will be reached in his lifetime. To allay any concern about his health, the defense minister stated, “I intend to live a bit longer.” In addition, how does Netanyahu plan to enlist the support of most members of his Likud faction for the new version of the two-state solution, not to mention that of his partners on the more radical right? After all, Knesset member Benny Begin resigned from the government in 1997 to protest the Hebron protocol for the partial redeployment of the Israel Defense Forces from Hebron, and Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely, speaking before Foreign Ministry employees May 21, said that God had given all of the Land of Israel to the people of Israel, and only to the people of Israel.

In light of Netanyahu’s dubious conduct in regard to the territory at the heart of the conflict with the Palestinians, his talk of new diplomatic initiatives goes in one ear and out the other of the Palestinians, his supposed negotiating partners. Given his contradictory statements about a solution to the conflict, it is up to the prime minister to prove the seriousness of his intentions. To convince his fellow lawmakers in the Zionist Camp to join the government, Herzog will need more than a hollow trial balloon from Netanyahu. To stop the wave of boycotts, the prime minister will have to put his money where his mouth is.