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Several Western nations officially recognized a Palestinian state for the first time ahead of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, which began on Monday. On Sunday, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Portugal announced their recognition. France joined them on Monday, meaning approximately three-quarters of U.N. member states now recognize Palestine as a nation.
French President Emmanuel Macron defended the decision in an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, saying, “recognizing a Palestinian state today is the only way to provide a political solution to a situation which has to stop.”
Following its formal recognition, the United Kingdom also opened a Palestinian embassy in London in what was previously the Palestine Mission to the U.K. A Palestinian flag-raising ceremony was held Monday outside the new embassy.
“Please join me as we raise the flag of Palestine with its colors representing our nation: Black for our mourning, white for our hope, green for our land and red for the sacrifices of our people,” Palestinian Ambassador to the U.K. Husam Zomlot said at the ceremony.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Sunday called for a two-state solution in a statement that said, “The current Israeli government is working methodically to prevent the prospect of a Palestinian state from ever being established. It has pursued an unrelenting policy of settlement expansion in the West Bank, which is illegal under international law. Its sustained assault in Gaza has killed tens of thousands of civilians, displaced well over one million people, and caused a devastating and preventable famine in violation of international law.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the move with fierce criticism, saying in a recorded video, “I have a clear message to those leaders recognizing a Palestinian state after the horrific massacre of Oct. 7: You are giving a massive prize to terror.”
The countries’ recognition casts a spotlight on the United States, which is the only member of the five permanent U.N. Security Council members with veto power to reject a Palestinian state. U.S. opposition, then, is the only obstacle preventing Palestine, currently an observer state, from becoming a full member of the organization.
The White House said that “the president expressed his displeasure and his disagreement with the leaders of France, the United Kingdom and Canada. He feels as though that’s rewarding Hamas at a time where Hamas is the true impediment to a ceasefire and to the release of all of the hostages.”
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, more than 65,000 people, many of them children, have been killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza, which was launched in retaliation for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in 2023. A U.N. commission of inquiry and the world's foremost experts on genocide, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, declared in September that Israel actions in Gaza amount to genocide.