“My insistence is what has prevented — over the years — the establishment of a Palestinian state that would have constituted an existential danger to Israel,” Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday. “As long as I am prime minister, I will continue to strongly insist on this.”

There is politics here, as everywhere. A two-state solution is dismally unpopular in Israel. A Gallup poll found backing for it among 25 percent of Israelis. The Israel Democracy Institute posed the question to Jewish Israelis with even more torque: Would you support a two-state solution if it were the only way to continue receiving American assistance? A majority said no.

Perhaps the only thing as unpopular in Israel right now than a two-state solution is Netanyahu himself. A recent Maariv poll found 28 percent of Israelis believe Netanyahu is still suited to be prime minister. If elections were held today, his party would be crushed. There are few paths to victory, much less absolution, for him, but this is one of the few that might work: persuade Jewish Israelis he’s the only leader tough enough to beat back American and European pressure to form a Palestinian state.

But consider Netanyahu’s boast. He is not just saying he opposes a Palestinian state now. He is saying he has opposed it for years. That he has worked to make it impossible. That he has succeeded.