Yesterday, Canada, Britain, and Australia, officially recognized a Palestinian state. Portugal followed later in the day and France is expected to do so today. This puts Canada in conflict with the US who has no intention of doing so. This will be an interesting week at the UN assembly this week where both Mark Carney and Donald Trump are expected to make speeches.

What does this actually mean though? Is there anything going to be different? Before the October 7 attack, by Hamas, Gaza was under the control of Hamas, while the West Bank was under the control of the Palestinian authority. Gaza is in ruins, as of now with Israel, being accused of genocide, with ongoing famine, and with 65,000 dead.

Mark Carney, in recognizing a Palestinian state, was quite harsh on Israel

“It has pursued an unrelenting policy of settlement expansion in the West Bank, which is illegal under international law. Its sustained assault in Gaza has killed tens of thousands of civilians, displaced well over one million people, and caused a devastating and preventable famine in violation of international law.”

Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing that there will be consequences for those countries recognizing a Palestinian state. He claims that this is a reward for terrorists, such as Hamas.

“I have a clear message to those leaders who recognize a Palestinian state after the horrific massacre of October 7: You are giving a huge reward to terrorism.”

British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, says that this is not so

“Our call for a genuine two-state solution is the exact opposite of their (Hamas) hateful vision. So we are clear this solution is not a reward for Hamas because it means Hamas can have no future, no role in government, no role in security.”

So what does this all mean? There will be fireworks at the UN this week. That is for sure. This is meant to put pressure on Israel to end this conflict. But Israel remains defiant. So in the long run, the way things look right now, this changes very little. Now, if Donald Trump were to get on board, that would be a game changer. But that simply is not going to happen.

That’s all I have for today