The announcements that the French, British, and Canadian governments intend to recognize an independent Palestinian state at September’s U.N. General Assembly are a triumph of moral inversion. With Hamas and their backers in Tehran on the ropes, President Macron, Prime Minister Starmer, and Prime Minister Carney have decided to throw them a lifeline rather than back Israel’s efforts to bring this conflict to a just conclusion.
According to Macron, this move is being made to fulfill France’s “historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East,” tying this decision directly to their aim of stopping the war in Gaza and saving the civilian population. Starmer went even further, using the prospect of recognizing an independent Palestinian state as a threat to constrain Israel: “The UK will recognise the state of Palestine . . . unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire, and commit to a long-term sustainable peace, reviving the prospect of a two-state solution.” Not to be outdone, Carney asserted a moral equivalence between the actions of Hamas and Israel before declaring Canada’s intention to recognize the State of Palestine. And even the conservative government in Germany is using the prospect of recognizing an independent Palestinian state as a tool to exert pressure on Israel.
There is so much wrong with this exercise in diplomatic extortion that it’s difficult to know where to begin. Think about the message this sends: Why would Hamas ever agree to release the hostages or lay down their arms when European leaders are about to hand them everything they want on a silver platter? This removes any incentive for negotiation and guarantees that the conflict will continue.
On a practical level, the proposal also fails at the first hurdle. Who exactly is going to govern this Palestinian state? The Palestinian Authority, led by Abu Mazen – a known terrorist and confirmed kleptocrat who hasn’t held an election in 19 years and has shown zero interest in functioning governance? Or Hamas, the Iranian-backed terrorist organization that has turned Gaza into a launching pad for attacks against Israel?
And on a symbolic and moral level, it is grotesque. Rewarding the aggressor in the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust with the ultimate prize sends the message to bad actors everywhere that terrorism gets results.
Britain, France, and Canada are using these announcements both as a means of grandstanding to domestic constituencies as well as an instrument of leverage against Israel. While these leaders pay lip service to the notion that Hamas must disarm and return the remaining hostages to Israel, they propose no means of inducing them to do so, and instead have fallen hook, line, and sinker for Hamas’ classic ploy of weaponizing the Palestinian people to protect themselves.
Indeed, it is Hamas that is responsible for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza – not Israel. Hamas is blocking the distribution of any aid that it cannot control or access, because it has always used aid as a means of supporting itself through theft and black-market sales, and as a means of control over the Palestinian people. This is entirely consistent with the group’s tactic of using its own people as human shields: intentionally placing their command centers in hospitals and heavily populated areas in order to maximize civilian casualties and reap the propaganda rewards. It should come as no surprise that Hamas is now presiding over a famine of its own making in order to blackmail the international community into giving them what they want.
Neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority has ever governed with the interests of the Palestinian people at heart, nor do they have the democratic legitimacy needed to make any representations on their behalf. In their nearly two decades of power, what do they have to show for the voluminous international aid that has flowed to Gaza and the West Bank? Rather than invest those funds in equipping their populations with the skills needed to build a prosperous independent state, both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority stole the money to line their own pockets, indoctrinate their people with the most vile antisemitic propaganda, and build the tunnels used to wage war on Israel and imprison innocent hostages.
Thankfully, President Trump has been clear-eyed about the situation. Under his first Administration, we refused to play the game of propping up the utterly corrupt Palestinian Authority in exchange for talks that always went nowhere; instead, we prioritized a new approach that isolated bad actors and incentivized cooperation and recognition of Israel as the path to regional peace and prosperity.
Do preening politicians like Starmer, Macron, or Carney care about the effect that their gambit will have on prospects for peace? Not in the slightest. Because this isn’t about the Palestinian people: It’s about moral grandstanding in the service of the most immoral of causes.
Scripture tells us, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” (Isaiah 5:20) We ignore the wisdom of this passage at our peril, and peace will never be secured by rewarding the architects and supporters of the atrocities of October 7.
