UN Showdown Looms Over Palestinian State Recognition Debate
As more countries seemingly reward Hamas for the Oct. 7 attack by recognizing a Palestinian state, a major showdown is scheduled for the United Nations this week.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed his opposition to Palestinian statehood and will speak at the United Nations later this week.
“At the U.N. I will present the truth,” he said on Sunday. “This is Israel’s truth, but it is the objective truth in our righteous struggle against the forces of evil and our vision for real peace, peace from strength.”
Netanyahu criticized the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia for recognizing a Palestinian state.
“I have a clear message to those leaders who recognize a Palestinian state after the terrible massacre of October 7: You are giving a huge prize to terrorism.,” he said. “And I have another message for you: It will not happen. There will be no Palestinian state west of the Jordan.”
Despite polls showing objections to Palestinian state recognition by the British public, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, “In the face of the growing horror in the Middle East, we are acting to keep alive the possibility of peace and a two-state solution. That means a safe and secure Israel, alongside a viable Palestinian state.”
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Unilateral recognition of statehood and the situation in Gaza are expected to dominate in the week’s U.N. General Assembly. Despite the argument that the decision would sideline Hamas and bring peace, Hamas took credit for the decision to recognize a state, insisting that it was the Oct. 6, 2023, invasion and massacre of Israelis that led to the recent announcements.
Eugene Kontorovich, a Mideast international law expert, said a Palestinian state doesn’t exist, regardless of what Hamas leaders say.
“They have complete independence, autonomy; Israel is not controlling their lives,” he said. “So, what would a state give them that they don’t have now? The ability to buy weapons on the international market and the ability to open their borders and bring in jihadis from around the world. So imagine October 7, except this time, instead of machine guns and gliders, they have airplanes and artillery, and millions of people who have come to join them on jihad from around the world.”
U.S. officials have said the action is largely “performative” and “symbolic” and will do nothing to help mend the relationship between the Palestinians and the Israeli government, according to ABC News.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio disagrees. “They have really no impact whatsoever about bringing us any closer to a Palestinian state,” he said. “The only impact they actually have is it makes Hamas feel more emboldened.”
–Dwight Widaman
