Rewarding Hamas Major Western countries set to formally recognize a Palestinian state. by Joseph Klein
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm-plus/rewarding-hamas/
In a disgusting display of moral cowardice, three of America’s major Western allies have indicated their intention to formally recognize a separate state of Palestine – France, the United Kingdom, and Canada. They will be rewarding the Hamas terrorists, who started the Gaza war with their unprovoked genocidal attack inside Israel on October 7, 2023 and are responsible for its perpetuation. Hamas can end the war in Gaza immediately by disarming and releasing all the remaining hostages. But Hamas has no incentive to do so. The terrorists would rather exploit the acute humanitarian crisis spawned by the war that they started as a cynical propaganda ploy to rally even more international support against Israel, while stealing vital humanitarian aid for themselves.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would recognize Palestine as a state in its own right. He intends to make an announcement of formal recognition of a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly session this September that many world leaders will be attending.
British Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer declared that the United Kingdom will also recognize a Palestinian state this September, unless the Israeli government takes what he called “substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza.” Starmer’s government brushed aside a subsequent letter to UK’s Attorney General Lord Hermer, written by a group of eminent lawyers who are members of the United Kingdom’s House of Lords, explaining that such a move would violate international law.
In addition to uncertainty over final borders that clearly define where the Palestinian territory comprising a hypothetical state would begin and end, the writers of the letter pointed to the lack of a “functioning single government.” Governance of the territory where most Palestinians live is divided between two intensely conflicting entities – the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza. “The former has failed to hold elections for decades, and the latter is a terrorist organization, neither of which could enter into relations with other states,” the letter’s authors said. The Starmer government’s response was that recognizing a Palestinian state would be in line with most UN member states that have already taken that step – i.e., a herd mentality justification.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney declared that Canada would formally recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September on certain conditions. Canada wants the Palestinian Authority to commit to holding an election in 2026 and to make other democratic reforms.
By joining many less influential nations that have already officially recognized a full-fledged Palestinian state, these three major Western democracies are trying to leverage their combined diplomatic heft to pressure Israel into ending the war unilaterally. But Israel has no intention of doing so while hostages remain in the Palestinian terrorists’ hands and Hamas continues to pose a significant security threat to the Israeli people.
It is Hamas that has rejected successive ceasefire proposals which would have stopped the fighting, freed the hostages, and allowed the safe delivery of massive amounts of humanitarian aid to those who need it in Gaza. But France, the United Kingdom, and Canada are willing to recognize a Palestinian state before the Palestinian terrorists release the live hostages and the remains of the deceased hostages they are still holding as well as lay down all their arms.
Leading up to the September General Assembly session that France, the UK, and Canada are planning to use to formally recognize a Palestinian state, the UN hosted a ministerial-level conference at its New York City headquarters on July 28-30. France and Saudi Arabia co-chaired the conference, which was entitled “The UN High-Level International Conference on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution.” Coming out of this conference was a document known as the New York Declaration that seventeen countries, the 22-member Arab League, and the European Union signed.
The Declaration called upon Israel to end the war, fully withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip, and agree to an independent Palestinian state that would be ruled by the Palestinian Authority. The Declaration also envisioned that the independent Palestinian state would take charge of all security within its territory (with agreed upon international transitional assistance under the aegis of the United Nations and the provision of other support).
“Governance, law enforcement and security across all Palestinian territory must lie solely with the Palestinian Authority, with appropriate international support,” the Declaration stated. The Declaration ruled out any “territorial reduction” in Gaza. That is another way of saying that Israel would be prevented from establishing a buffer zone within any part of Gaza to secure more protection for its people against another October 7th-style terrorist attack.
The Declaration’s signatories foolishly assume that an independent Palestinian state admitted as a full member of the UN would satisfy the genocidal ambition of the Islamist fanatics who are committed to destroying the Jewish state of Israel.
At least, the conference Declaration’s signatories, to their credit, condemned the Palestinian terrorists’ October 7th rampage. They also called on Hamas to free all the hostages it is still holding, lay down its arms, and relinquish its rule of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority. But the signatories did not demand that Hamas fulfill all these steps first before recognizing the Palestinian territory as a full-fledged state. And Hamas continues to show no inclination to make these concessions to end the war.
Israel cannot allow Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists to continue posing a mortal threat to the security of the Israeli people. There is no chance of a durable peace in Gaza, much less a viable two-state solution, until Hamas and its fellow terrorists are disarmed completely, all the hostages are released, and Hamas gives up its governance powers. But Hamas insists on the reverse. The terrorist organization stated in response to calls for it to disarm, “The resistance cannot give up its weapons unless our people’s rights are fully restored and our sovereign state is established.”
The UN-hosted conference’s Declaration immorally equated the Palestinian terrorists’ deliberate slaughter of innocent civilians (including women, children, and even babies) on October 7, 2023 with Israel’s use of military force in defense of its own people. Israel has gone out of its way to avoid inflicting civilian casualties while Hamas has deliberately put Gazan civilians in harm’s way by using them as human shields.
Israel does not need any help from self-righteous, hypocritical diplomats. Their performative gestures will serve only to impede real-world efforts to achieve a secure and durable peace by incentivizing Hamas to continue fighting. Indeed, Hamas keeps adding new demands before it will agree to even a temporary ceasefire to enable more humanitarian aid to reach the Gazan civilians who truly need it.
But the so-called “international community” will press forward with its campaign to isolate Israel as a pariah state for defending itself against genocidal terrorists. We can expect many nations to use the General Assembly session in September, for example, as a global platform to stridently denounce Israel and rally around the Palestinians in their farcical quest for undeserved statehood.
Also expect another effort at the UN Security Council this year to approve a resolution elevating the Palestinians to full UN member state status, supported by Security Council permanent members France and the United Kingdom. The Trump administration will have no choice but to stop this travesty in its tracks by exercising the United States’ veto power as a permanent member of the Council. The veto would prevent the Palestinians from being elevated from its current UN Observer State status to becoming a full-fledged UN member state. However, the General Assembly has already expanded the rights of the current Palestinian UN Observer State to participate in General Assembly activities short of voting on General Assembly resolutions, while passing a succession of hate-driven anti-Israel resolutions. This globalist circus is likely to take more actions along these same lines this fall.
President Trump recognizes the unvarnished truth as to who is at fault for letting the war and human suffering in Gaza go on. “The fastest way to end the Humanitarian Crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!!,” President Trump posted on Truth Social.
Many Democratic senators, on the other hand, were willing to reward Hamas and punish Israel by voting in favor of Democrat-Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders’ resolutions to block the sale of arms to Israel. Fortunately, his two resolutions were defeated.
Israel does not have to apologize to anyone for doing what it deems necessary to protect its people from the brutal savages who want to destroy the Jewish state. The Jewish people have endured too many centuries of being persecuted and ostracized as a minority group in foreign lands to lose their historic homeland to hordes of genocidal Islamo-Nazi terrorists. Only Israel’s military forces, with support of the United States as necessary, can ensure that such a calamity will not happen.
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