Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains "absolutely committed" to the two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, his spokesman David Keyes, said Thursday morning while speaking out against Secretary of State John Kerry's speech claiming Israel's settlements are putting the policy in jeopardy.

"What was so disappointing about Secretary Kerry's speech was that it did not deal with the core conflict of why this conflict continues to rage," Keyes told CNN's Don Lemon on the "New Day" program. "That has precisely nothing to do with Jews in the West Bank and everything to do with the Palestinian leadership's continued refusal to recognize a Jewish state."

Netanyahu has called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to meet "hundreds of times" for peace talks, said Keyes, and has invited Abbas to speak in the Knesset, Israel's national legislature.

"President Abbas said no to recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, and no to direct relations, and no to condemning the hate speech that is a daily occurrence on Palestinian media," said Keyes. "Instead of focusing on the actual barriers to peace, this has basically done a bait and switch."

Meanwhile, there is a difference in opinions in Israel as well, Lemon pointed out, including with many key leaders opposing a Palestinian state, but Keyes said Netanyahu "supports two states for two peoples, and the vast majority of Israelis yearn for an end to this conflict."

Also, there could already have been a Palestinian state, said Keyes, but every time one was offered over the years, "they said no."

"The reason is simple, because the conflict is not about the creation of a Palestinian state," the spokesman continued. "It's about the existence of a Jewish state."

Abbas has said peace talks can begin when the Israelis quit building settlements, Lemon pointed out, but Keyes said that even when Netanyahu stopped the building, Abbas "didn't take that too seriously."

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