What’s really behind this wave of Palestine recognition?

Why recognize Palestinian statehood now? Israelis, not to speak of official Israel, are perplexed, disappointed and angry in the face of the current surge of countries rushing to recognize the Palestinian state. Approximately ten countries have now joined a list of over 140 countries that had previously recognized Palestine. But what makes this new list remarkable is that it now includes many of Israel’s key allies in the Western world, including the UK and France, two permanent members of the Security Council. Beyond the general question of why undermine the principle that a Palestinian State should emerge as a result of negotiations that places demands on both sides, why do so now? What has changed to inspire and activate this movement of unliteral recognition?

The official Israeli perspective categorizes this movement as both destructive and morally corrupt. The only new factors that should be considered when thinking about the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians are the massacre perpetrated against Israel on October 7th and the just war in which we are currently engaged to defeat Hamas, ensure Israel’s safety and free our hostages.How then is one to understand a world that is turning its back against us at our most difficult time?

The explanations we offer generally fall into one of the following three categories. The first, and most dependable, is antisemitism. For the antisemite, Jews, and in particular, Jewish success and power, are intolerable, which makes undermining Israel the focus of their agenda. Vilifying everything Israel does, transforming Israel into the embodiment of evil and employing moral double standards are the primary tools of their trade. Given that Israel and the Palestinians are in a zero-sum conflict, support for Palestinian statehood is but the latest step towards fulfilling their aspiration for the complete delegitimization and ultimate destruction of Israel. There is never a better time to do so than now.

The second explanation is located in the moral bankruptcy of the progressive left, which categorizes the powerful as evil and power as original sin. Conversely, the powerless, regardless of what they do (October 7th), or stand for (the destruction of Israel by any means), are by definition, righteous and on the side of the angels. In the area between the river and sea, Palestine must be free of the immoral, colonial, white, and all-powerful Israeli regime which utilizes its power to persecute and discriminate against the Palestinians. The War in Gaza is but the latest manifestation of the abuse of this power, and international condemnation has made Israel vulnerable – a vulnerability which should be taken advantage of through the unilateral act of recognition.

The third explanation, applied in particular to Israel’s Western allies, is what I would term the well-meaning fool argument. While some of these nations mean well and genuinely want to stand on the side of the just, they are in fact doing the opposite. They are recognizing Palestinian statehood out of a mistaken understanding of the conflict, its history and current causes, and in so doing are hindering peace, emboldening Hamas, and alienating Israelis. To recognize Palestinian statehood in the aftermath of October 7th is to transform this day from one of the greatest moral failures in Palestinian history into Palestinian Independence Day, and to grant Hamas a victory and anoint them and their depraved methods as the central players in Palestinian politics.

Our legal experts will further add that the Palestinian entity fails to meet the criteria for statehood under international law, while our political pundits will opine as to how this “noble” act in no way contributes to furthering the Palestinian people’s interest, but, on the contrary, harms them. Given all the above,no one but a fool, well-meaning or not, would pursue unilateral recognition at this time.

In the face of this recognition wave, Israel has now entered defensive mode while it searches where and against whom it can go on the offensive. Defense will take the form of self-righteous and vitriolic speeches on the international stage and social and news media, effective (and directed) principally towards the domestic Israeli population, while significant offensive measures will be directed against the only party over which we have control, i.e., the weak Palestinian people and Authority.

Truth be told, there is very little that we can do to deter the antisemites, and currently, very few avenues for constructive dialogue with the progressive and “enlightened” left. In both cases, their support for the recognition of Palestinian statehood is not the point but the latest vehicle with which to fight against and undermine Israel. As such, any arguments as to the lack of sense or merit in their actions are futile and irrelevant. In the face of their efforts, our only course of action is to marshal our resources and power – physical, political, moral and intellectual – to defend ourselves and most importantly, limit their impact on our friends and allies around the world.

However, characterizing these friends – our erstwhile allies such as Australia, France, Canada, and the UK – as well-meaning fools is not a useful tactic to win friends and influence people. Condemning them publicly as such is even less helpful. For Israel to maintain its allies, it is time for us to admit that, while we may disagree with them, they may not be fools. While the timing is not ideal, to say the least, it is Israel and its policies, and not Hamas and October 7th, that are the main catalyst for the recognition campaign.

Loss of faith

For decades, Israel’s formal position was that the future of peace negotiations is dependent on both sides coming to the negotiating table free of any preconditions.
However, for a long time, and certainly since the war in Gaza, we failed to live up to our own proclaimed position. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has over and again declared that there will never be an independent Palestinian state, that the PA are not viable partners, all the while allowing his government through legislation and the creation of facts on the ground – i.e., massive settlement building and expansion, and infrastructure investment – to restructure the reality in Judea and Samaria and unilaterally determine the political future of the territories.

When it comes to Gaza, at least in the eyes of our allies, Israel is pursuing a policy of war and destruction that far exceeds the mandate of a just war of self-defense. Statements of leading Israeli ministers as to the “voluntary” emigration of Gazans, the permanent reoccupation of Gaza, and the resettling there of Israelis are seen internationally as expressing an intention to commit acts that are not only considered illegal and immoral, but that seek to unilaterally determine the “day after” in Gaza without any regard for Palestinian rights or aspirations. Together with its polices in Judea and Samaria, Israel is determining on its own the future of Palestinian life, and in this future, the two-state solution has no place.

The international campaign to recognize Palestinian statehood has many partners. Some of them are our enemies, but many of them are our friends and allies. The latter are not doing so to intentionally harm Israel, and certainly not to partner with Hamas. Their statements accompanying their acts of recognition are evidence of that fact.

Their inspiration is not October 7th, but their loss of faith in Israel as a pursuer of peace. If we want to be Sparta Nation, a country whose policies in the region are pursued only through war and special forces operations, we have only ourselves to blame. We can hardly criticize these countries for not considering carefully enough the consequences of their actions on the prospect of Israeli-Palestinian co-existence when the actions of our own government to dictate the future of the West Bank and Gaza have shown little regard for what would create conditions for more peaceful relations in which the rights of both peoples were respected.

I am an advocate of the two-state solution as the only possibility for Zionism and the only way to fulfill the legitimate national and moral rights of Israelis and Palestinians alike. I recognize that there are real security challenges to that vision, and that it may take a long time to create the conditions for it to be possible. But total abandonment of the aspiration for both Jews and Palestinians to realize their rights to self-determination alongside one another is also the abandonment of our moral core.

Even if one opposes two states and advocates for a different policy, one must articulate what that policy is and how it purports to solve the conflict in a morally and politically coherent manner. The Palestinian people in Judea and Samaria and Gaza are not going away, and without Israel being open to any political compromise with our Palestinian neighbors, it is no surprise that we are no longer viewed even by our friends as trusted peace partners. They are acting unilaterally because we have done so for a long time now. They are expressing, through recognition, their commitment to Palestinian independence alongside Israel preciselybecause we have abandoned that commitment.

Since October 7th, Israelis have become accustomed to viewing everything through the prism of that day. To justify and legitimize our actions, to maintain the status of perpetual victims, and to view every action, statement, or decision of others pertaining to us through that lens. The trauma of October 7th will stay with us for years, but it is time to recognize that we are no longer simply victims, and that the world no longer views or relates to us solely or predominantly through an October 7th perspective, and justifiably so.

We are a powerful country with a victorious army that needs to give an account as to how we are fighting in Gaza, what our moral parameters are, how we aim to end the war, and most importantly, what future we are prepared to negotiate for in Gaza and Judea and Samaria. When we reclaim our place as peace partners, our allies in the world will no longer act unilaterally, and we will be able to unite with them to both marginalize our enemies and achieve a new and better future for both Israel and the Palestinian people.