On the eve of the start of the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, Great Britain, Australia, and Canada formally recognized a Palestinian State, prompting an angry response from Israel, reports the AP.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vehemently against the three countries giving Hamas a “prize.” However, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer insists that this is not a reward but a move intended “to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis.”
Netanyahu said that the establishment of a Palestinian state "will not happen." The United States and a handful of other countries oppose the idea. (President Donald Trump and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu featured left.)
Robert Knight is a columnist for the Washington Times.
"It's alarming that these stalwarts of Western civilization have come to this point. The idea of two states to solve the Israeli Palestinian crisis is absurd. It's already been tried. Gaza was, functionally, a separate state, and it turned into a terrorist state very quickly. So why would the Israelis want to create two states?" asks Knight.
Meanwhile, the AP also reports that President Trump has refused to give a U.S. visa for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to speak at the General Assembly, which overwhelmingly adopted a resolution enabling Abbas to speak by video.
Knight thinks that this is a good move as it shows how strongly the Trump administration supports Israel.
“They're saying don't mess with Israel, and we're going to do whatever it takes to send the message that what you're doing is unacceptable. The whole world is ganging up on Israel and telling it to do something that they would never do, give up a huge portion of their territory and their security to please the rest of the world," says Knight.
