There is increasing speculation that the UK will recognise a Palestinian state imminently, possibly in coordination with France. On this morning’s Today programme, for example, Emily Thornberry, chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, was the latest senior MP to push the idea.
Open Jew hate is now the norm in Britain
It sounds sensible, even obvious, doesn’t it? If a ‘political’ solution is the only way out of the current terrible situation in the region, surely a pre-requisite is to create a so-called partner for peace with Israel. But like so many superficially sensible and obvious ideas, that’s what it is: superficial. Worse, it’s dangerous – and specifically dangerous for the UK.
Most seriously, it would demonstrate with unambiguous clarity that terrorism works. It’s easy for the likes of Thornberry to brush away with scorn (as she did this morning) the link between the October 7 massacre and recognition, but the push for the latter has arisen solely because of Israel’s response to the massacre – a response which, by definition, would not have arisen if there had been no October 7. Hamas murdered 1,200 Jews, and a few months later there was a push for recognition. In May 2004, Ireland, Spain and Norway did just that. There was a clamour for the UK to join them, a clamour which may now be about to achieve its aim. The earlier recognition by Ireland, Spain and Norway has already shown that Western governments can be pushed about as a result of terrorism. Do we really want the UK to solidify that notion?
But even if we ignore the impact on the Palestinians themselves as well as on the UK of proving that terror gets rewards, recognition will have a direct impact on us.
First, the United States has warned that any country that takes ‘anti-Israel actions’ will be viewed as acting in opposition to US interests and will face diplomatic consequences. We have all seen the insouciance with which president Donald Trump can turn on a penny against close allies. At the very least, should we go against the US by recognising a Palestinian state we would be endangering the trade deal recently agreed with the US, as well as risking the imposition of steel and other tariffs. This poses a direct threat to British jobs and the UK economy – as well as destroying, in one fell swoop, all the diplomatic credit with Trump built up by Keir Starmer and Peter Mandelson, the British ambassador in Washington DC.
Second, if recognition morphed into something more than a diplomatic fiction it would create an entity that is built on and functions around terror, posing an even greater threat to UK security. In this, definitions and specificity are vital. Quite what would be recognised is itself a key issue, since no generally accepted Palestinian state exists to recognise. Is it the Palestinian Authority (now in its 19th year since elections)? Would it include Gaza? Who is recognised as the state’s executive? What role would Hamas play? Who funds it? What about Jerusalem? What is its border? Who patrols it? Who defends it?
No one knows the answers to any of these questions because they would be the work of the hard, difficult negotiations upon which a two state solution actually depends. Every one of these and the many other unanswered questions are matters of life and death – and will have a direct impact on the UK, assuming that having recognised Palestinian state we do not then immediately declare it a terror state.
Third, imagine the impact here as the hate marchers realise they have got their way. Open Jew hate is now the norm in Britain. When these people see that terror and their hate marches have led to recognition of Palestine, the scenes that we have already witnessed will look wholesome in comparison. They will have secured the first step along the road to their openly expressed desire of a Judenfrei region – from the river to the sea. The conclusion they will rightly draw is that it will be time to step up their hate campaign, if they are to move further down the road of pushing Jews into the sea – and pushing down the Jews here in the UK.
For those who really care about securing a Palestinian state, recognition is indeed key to progress – but recognition of Israel, by Saudi Arabia. That would be the catalyst for real change, and it remains possible, with Trump more likely than any previous president to be able to shake the regional kaleidoscope, as he showed in his first term with the Abraham Accords. That should be the focus for serious figures, rather than the dangerous showboating of the likes of Emily Thornberry.
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