Sunday, September 21, 2025

Embarrassed by years of belly-crawling before Judeofascists and their money as they mass-murder Palestinians, major Western capitals finally relent and will recognize Palestinian state

In Historic Shift, U.K., Australia and Canada Recognize a Palestinian State

LONDON—The U.K., Australia and Canada said Sunday they would formally recognize a Palestinian state, a significant shift in longstanding foreign policy among Western governments and a reflection of growing global dissatisfaction with Israel after nearly two years of war in Gaza.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the various countries were making the move to recognize the long-held aspirations of the Palestinians for a state of their own and to try to breathe new life into the two-state solution to the long-running conflict. The U.K. government echoed the sentiment.

“We are acting to keep alive the possibility of peace,” U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said. Starmer’s government months ago laid out an ultimatum, saying it would recognize a Palestinian state unless Israel stopped the fighting in Gaza and halted the creeping annexation of land in the West Bank through the building of new settlements. Starmer said those conditions had not been met.

The move by the British government especially is a symbolic win for the Palestinians, given that it is a longstanding ally of Israel and was instrumental in the country’s modern creation.

The triple announcement also fires the starting gun on a week that will bring a watershed moment in international relations between Israel and major international powers. France, Belgium and several others are also expected to use a gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly this week to declare their recognition of Palestine as a state. More than 140 countries already recognize a Palestinian state.

The announcements mark the reversal of a longstanding position among most Western allies that recognition of a Palestinian state would be dangled as a reward to Palestinians for abandoning violent confrontation with Israel as part of an eventual two-state solution. But what was being used as a carrot for Palestinians could now be seen as a stick against an Israeli government that has grown increasingly hard-line and shows little interest in a two-state deal.

“The current Israeli government is working methodically to prevent the prospect of a Palestinian state from ever being established,” said Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in a statement on Sunday. “It is in this context that Canada recognizes the State of Palestine and offers our partnership in building the promise of a peaceful future for both the State of Palestine and the State of Israel.”

The shift leaves the U.S. among a handful of countries, including Germany and Austria, that don’t recognize a Palestinian state.

The Israeli government criticized the moves, saying they rewarded terrorist actions by Hamas, which still holds dozens of Israelis hostage after an attack on the country in 2023. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate, but hasn’t specified how. “The international community will hear from us on this matter in the coming days,” Netanyahu said on Sunday.

The Trump administration has also said it is against the move. In July, when Carney first floated the idea of recognizing a Palestinian state, President Trump criticized him and said it could affect trade talks between both sides.

The wave of western countries recognizing Palestine underscores the depth of frustration in many western capitals at Israel’s Gaza campaign, and the continuing settlement of the West Bank.

“This a diplomatic and political defeat for Israel, at least the way the current government is articulating Israeli policy,” said Yuval Shany, a law professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute.

Many Israelis are concerned that the country is developing a pariah status, but are also frustrated by the move to recognize Palestine, which they feel rewards Hamas. France and others have said they want to sideline Hamas, which rejects the two-state solution.

Some members of Netanyahu’s coalition are urging the prime minister to retaliate by annexing parts of the West Bank. But such a move could risk upending the normalization deals with Arab countries known as the Abraham Accords, which were a key achievement of Trump’s first term.

“Israel must apply Israeli sovereignty as a preventive measure against the reckless attempt to establish a terror state in the heart of our land,” Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said earlier this month.

Other options include retaliating against France, which, along with Saudi Arabia, has led the effort. That could include closing the French consulate in Jerusalem...MORE...

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