Not the main point: The recognition of a state of Palestine by some European countries is long on “Palestine” and short on “state.” “Palestine” is a state without borders, without an army, without a democratic leadership, without motive to stop incentivizing terrorism financially, and, to boot, is self-contradictory.
The contradiction is this: The recognizers of Palestine exclude Hamas from the leadership of the new state, but Hamas has become a mainstay in the sentiment in the West Bank, controlled by the Palestinian Authority —and the PA is supposed to be the government of the new state. Hamas is excluded in name only.
The contradiction deepens: If Palestine is its own state, then Israel has no place in Gaza, but in Gaza only Hamas reigns. Recognition of a Palestinian state that includes Gaza is the recognition of Hamas.
These contradictions and political vagaries are not the main consequences of the recognition. The consequences are a significant level of international legitimacy for Palestinian sovereignty and a corresponding diminishment of the legitimacy of Israeli sovereignty.
The PA has long understood that it cannot defeat Israel on the battlefield. Before Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas entertained the illusion that it could do so, and though it no longer does so, it uses the threat of Israel’s destruction to make diplomatic gains.
The Palestinian alternative to military victory is the international diplomatic isolation of Israel, the economic boycott of Israel and the defamation of the good name of Israel. On all these fronts, the European countries’ recognition of “Palestine” is a major triumph. Make no mistake, for all their bitter quarrels, both the PA and Hamas rejoice in, and take credit for, this unprecedented diplomatic step. The PA has long sought it, but even Hamas called it one of the “fruits of Oct. 7.” Indeed, as Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, the European recognition is a prize awarded to Hamas.
Netanyahu, however, is not free of blame for this terrible blow against Israel. And that’s what it is — a blow against Israel. This recognition will not soon, if ever, lead to a Palestinian state, but it will diminish Israel. Netanyahu has waged war on Hamas as if the campaign were only a military one. It is not. It is also a diplomatic one. Netanyahu had the chance to score a diplomatic victory, in whole or in part, by accepting the ceasefire terms that Israel itself proposed, and Hamas finally accepted, last July.
That ceasefire would have freed 10 hostages, brought immense relief to Israel, boosted Israel morale, and not foreclosed a continuation of the war against Hamas. It was the rejection of that ceasefire that triggered France’s call for a Palestinian state and focused the world’s attention on the humanitarian issue, however overblown it might be.
Netanyahu must learn that it is not enough to be right. It is necessary to be seen as right. That takes patience, which he has not shown.
Nor, to be sure, have the European nations shown the patience to actualize a Hamas-free Palestinian state, and a pay-for-slay-free Palestinian state. The only difference between Hamas and the PA is that while both sponsor terrorism, one does so openly and the other does so financially. The European recognition of “Palestine” turns a blind eye to all this, rewarding terrorism and stoking anti-Semitism around the world.
© IJN 2025
