Britain, Canada and Australia confirmed on Sunday that they now formally recognise Palestinian statehood, piling pressure on Israel to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and putting three major US allies at odds with the Trump administration.
The seemingly coordinated announcements came on the eve of the annual gathering of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, at which France and Portugal are also expected to vote for recognition of Palestinian statehood.
The concerted action will deepen the diplomatic isolation of Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. But so far, it has done little to curb his military campaign against Hamas.
Britain’s Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, waited to act until after President Donald Trump’s state visit last week to Britain, during which Trump said he disagreed with the move, preferring to focus on securing the release of the hostages held by Hamas
militants.
“I have a disagreement with the Prime Minister on that score,” Trump said at a news conference with Starmer on Thursday, although he added, “One of our few disagreements, actually.”
When Starmer announced Britain’s plans in late July, he said a final decision would hinge on multiple conditions. Israel, he said, must address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, sign up to a ceasefire agreement with Hamas to secure the release of hostages, and pursue long-term peace with the Palestinians, based on a two-state solution.
Since then, Israel has attacked Hamas leaders in Qatar, the Persian Gulf state that has been the site of ceasefire negotiations, making any agreement more elusive than ever. Far from scaling back, Israeli troops have expanded their combat operations, advancing on Gaza’s main urban centre, Gaza City.
For Starmer, who worked as a human-rights lawyer before entering politics, the decision has nevertheless been an anguished balancing act. He has tried to avoid daylight between Britain and the US on issues like trade and the war in Ukraine. But Gaza poses moral and political challenges.
In his news conference with Trump, Starmer sought to put the move in the context of other steps, including pushing for the release of hostages and reviving negotiations for the creation of a Palestinian state. Recognition, he said, was “part of the overall package, which hopefully takes us from the appalling situation we’re in now”.
When a reporter from Fox News accused the Prime Minister of waiting for Trump to leave Britain before announcing the decision, Starmer responded with an impassioned denunciation of Hamas, which got him an approving tap on the shoulder from Trump, who said, “That’s good.”
Starmer noted that members of his extended family lived in Israel (his British-born wife, Victoria, is Jewish). “I understand, firsthand, the psychological impact” of the Hamas attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers in October 2023, he said. “So, I know exactly where I stand in relation to Hamas.”
Domestic politics played a part in Starmer’s decision as well. Pressure to do more has swelled within the ranks of his Labour Party, as well as in the broader public, as harrowing images and videos of suffering Palestinians have been broadcast online and in the news media.
“The UK government will hope that this buys them an extended period of quiet without having to take further moves,” said Daniel Levy, who runs the US/Middle East Project, a research institute in London and New York.
“The UK, along with others, will be under the spotlight of ‘What has recognition changed?’” added Levy, who once worked as a peace negotiator for Israel. “The answer will be nothing, and pressure will again intensify to take more consequential measures.”
He and other critics fault the British government for not having done more already. Britain has stopped short of accusing Israel of genocide, despite calls to do so by Labour members of Parliament and legal experts. And while it has suspended some weapons sales to Israel, it continues to supply parts for F-35 fighter jets, used by the Israeli Air Force in strikes on Gaza.
The move rewards “Hamas monstrous terrorism & punishes its victims,” Netanyahu said in a post on social media in July. “A jihadist state on Israel’s border TODAY will threaten Britain TOMORROW.”
New York Times News Service