Australia, Canada, Portugal and UK Recognize Palestinian Statehood; Netanyahu Says It “Will Not Happen”

Australia, Canada, Portugal, and the United Kingdom recognized Palestinian statehood on September 21, 2025, with more countries expected to do so on September 22 ahead of the UN General Assembly, according to the Council on Foreign Relations’ Daily News Brief. The four Western countries called for peace and a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority welcomed the move.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that a Palestinian state “will not happen.” He also said that those endorsing Palestinian statehood after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel were rewarding terrorism.

The announcements mark a diplomatic shift for several Western countries that have historically aligned with Israel and had been holdouts, since more than 140 countries already recognized Palestinian statehood. Analysts say that fragmented Palestinian leadership and firm Israeli opposition make Palestinian statehood almost impossible at present, and that diplomatic pressure is unlikely to change the military situation on the ground. The countries newly pledging recognition have characterized their moves as a repudiation of Israel’s continued war in Gaza.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that Israel’s “increasing bombardment of Gaza, the offensive of recent weeks, the starvation, and the devastation are utterly intolerable.” He also condemned Hamas as “a brutal terror organization.”

Steven A. Cook, a CFR expert, wrote in Foreign Policy that the British, French, and Canadian positions are part of growing international support for Palestine. In Israel, he wrote, “the trend lines run the other way.” He said support for a two-state solution has diminished, and that as a result the state the UK, France, and Canada want to recognize “cannot come into existence. Israel holds all the cards.”

French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are hosting a conference in New York on September 22 on a two-state solution, a call for peace that the conference’s organizers have placed at its center (Matthew 5:9). Israel and the United States do not plan to attend. Netanyahu, who is due to speak at the UN on Friday and meet with U.S. President Donald Trump this week, said that Israel would announce its official response to recognition in the coming days.

Several ministers in Netanyahu’s government called for Israel to annex parts of the West Bank in response to the new wave of Palestinian recognition.

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