Op-Ed: Bethany Mandel: A recognition of "Palestine" should bring shame, not celebration, for the West
Bethany Mandel explains why some of the West's oldest democracies should be ashamed of their moves to recognize a country that has never existed.
On a day when some of the West’s oldest democracies wrote the word “Palestine” into their diplomatic vocabulary, something uglier happened in plain sight: the celebration of violence, the public executions of people accused of “collaboration,” and the lingering pain of families whose loved ones were taken hostage, tortured and murdered.
That is not a moment for congratulation. It is a moment for sober reflection — and, frankly, shame.
This past weekend, Britain, Canada, and Australia formally recognised a Palestinian state in coordinated statements meant, officials said, to revive a two-state solution and press for an end to the suffering in Gaza. The declarations were defended as symbolic efforts to push the region toward peace.
But symbols matter; symbols are not neutral. And in this case, the timing is grotesque.
Consider what was happening in Gaza at the same time. Videos and reports showed Hamas operatives publicly executing people accused of “collaborating” with Israel, men tied and blindfolded, shot before crowds, a reminder that the rule of law is absent where terror rules. These are not the acts of a state worthy of the benefits and responsibilities that come with formal recognition on the international stage. They are the acts of a gang that governs by fear and spectacle.
In October 2023, terrorists dragged the Bibas family from their home in Nir Oz; held for a terrifying month before Israeli authorities say the captors murdered Shiri Bibas and her two small sons, Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 9 months, killed in captivity, their bodies later returned in what can only be described as a “Dead Baby Parade,” complete with music and theatrics.
The forensic evidence, the grief, the global outrage that followed, all that should temper any rush to bestow legitimacy on a political entity that celebrates death and destruction like most countries celebrate World Cup victories.
It is not only the brutal spectacle of executions and the nightmares of hostage families that make this recognition so unwise. It is also the reaction from those who carried out the October 7th atrocities. Amit Segal, chief political analyst for Israeli station N12 quipped, that “all you need to know about Starmer’s recognition of a Palestinian state is that Hamas issued a congratulatory statement.” Violence produced political advantage, a reality that should make any decent government pause before applauding.
You might say recognition is merely symbolic, but that does not mean turning a blind eye to terror. Keir Starmer and others insist recognition is conditional, not a reward. But symbolism becomes reality when it reshapes incentives.
When hostage families begged Downing Street not to proceed, warning that recognition “has dramatically complicated efforts” to free their loved ones, that plea should have been heeded. Those families do not speak in empty rhetoric; they speak from the gut-piercing experience of watching brothers, fathers, children and spouses ripped from their homes and held by monsters. Governments should be listening.
Nor does the British public appear to be on board with unconditional recognition. A JL Partners poll reported by The Telegraph found that just 13 percent of Britons supported recognizing Palestine “without any conditions,” with only 11 percent of Labour voters in favor. That stark disconnect between leadership and public sentiment is not proof of virtue on either side but it is a sign that haste has replaced consensus.
If Western democracies are serious about building a lasting peace, one that protects Israelis and Palestinians alike, they must insist on clear, enforceable conditions: the end of terror as a political tool; the disarmament of Hamas; genuine mechanisms that ensure human rights and the release of hostages; and a Palestinian leadership genuinely committed to governance, pluralism and the rule of law.
Recognition without those steps hands a perverse lesson to the region: violence works. That is a lesson the victims of October 7th and the families who still do not have their loved ones home know all too well. If the West truly cares about peace, dignity and human life, it will not celebrate a shortcut to statehood for the very actors who trafficked in massacres and hostage-taking. It will instead use every tool to demand a future in which a Palestinian state is built on the foundations of justice, not on the graves of innocents.
Bethany Mandel writes and podcasts for The Mom Wars.