As Israel mounts a deadly ground invasion in Gaza City, more and more countries that have staunchly stood by it over the past two years of its war are recognising the State of Palestine. Just this week, 10 countries — the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Portugal, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco and Andorra — have broken with their historical reluctance to acknowledge Palestine as a State in a series of meetings and announcements on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly session. They have joined the vast majority of the world — especially almost all of Asia and Africa — in recognising Palestine. Unsurprisingly, this wave of recognitions has drawn criticism from Israel and its closest ally, the United States of America, as well as invited allegations of peddling in symbolism when hundreds of civilians continue to be killed every week in Gaza. It is true that these declarations will by themselves stop neither Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza nor its openly expansionist policies in the West Bank. Still, these recognitions do point to the fact that the governments of even some of Israel’s most loyal friends can no longer ignore the groundswell of public opinion in their own countries against what history might well judge as its first livestreamed genocide.

The US president, Donald Trump, speaking at the UNGA, echoed Israel’s argument that supporting a Palestinian State was a gift to Hamas for the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the current war. Yet, in the Global South, that assertion will ring familiar and hollow: it was precisely what many in Europe had argued to oppose independence for former colonies where they faced armed rebellions. To be sure, these governments could do a lot more. The UK, for instance, still exports parts used by Israel for jets and other weapons systems. These countries could impose economic sanctions against Israel as they have against Russia over the Ukraine war. However, these recognitions are a message from the world that Israel’s tanks, missiles and bombs will not find it easy to kill the two-state solution. In the early 1980s, the former US president, Ronald Reagan, had described apartheid South Africa as a loyal ally, rejecting calls for sanctions against it. But the US Congress eventually went ahead and imposed sanctions in response to popular American sentiment. Palestine has similarly become a test case for the world. Recognition of statehood is an important first step.