IN THE MEDIA
Don’t reward Hamas: Why it would be wrong to recognise Palestine now
August 11, 2025 | Colin Rubenstein
Daily Telegraph – 11 August 2025
The UK and Canada are the latest Western governments to join the profoundly counterproductive trend to unilaterally recognise, or threaten to recognise, a Palestinian state in response to the tragic situation in Gaza. Regrettably, Australia seems on the cusp of doing so too.
The UK, France, Canada and others paint recognition as a response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and now to the Israeli plan to temporarily control the rest of Gaza due to the Hamas refusal to accept a ceasefire. However, this trend not only sets back genuine peace hopes, but won’t help alleviate the plight of Gazans.
Notwithstanding that the UN admits Israel has allowed more aid into Gaza than the UN has tried to deliver, and that 90% of the aid the UN tries to deliver is looted, Israel has taken further steps to mitigate the food crisis there. These include airdrops and daily humanitarian pauses in the fighting.
However, the only way to end Gazans’ suffering would have been the two-month ceasefire deal, mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar, that had been on the table for weeks. As happened during the last ceasefire in January, this would have seen Gaza stockpiles of food and other vital supplies fully replenished.
Israel accepted that deal, but all three mediators say Hamas intransigence blocked any agreement. There is no coincidence that Hamas scuttled the ceasefire talks after this Palestine recognition trend began as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has underlined! More pressure on Israel benefits Hamas, which has always been prepared to enable Palestinian civilian suffering and human sacrifice for its own ends, as well as its continued barbaric detention of Israeli hostages, dead and alive.
Rather, now, when even the Arab League has signed a welcome statement condemning the October 7 attacks and demanding Hamas release the hostages, disarm and relinquish power, is the time to ramp up pressure on Hamas.
The recent joint statement including the UK, and Australia also risked undermining a key aspect of Israel’s unfolding if contested Gaza strategy, which is to pressure Hamas back to serious ceasefire negotiations very soon.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is right in responding that our Government should consider how Australia would react under the circumstances Israel has confronted before moralising or casting aspersions on Israel’s military campaign of self-defence against the blood thirsty, death cult of Hamas terrorists.
It’s also vital that we familiarise ourselves with what is actually happening in Gaza rather than buying into the Hamas narrative and propaganda before we make any move such as prematurely recognising a Palestinian state, which would only reward Hamas terrorism and reinforce continued Palestinian Authority intransigence and incitement.
Longer term, the “recognise Palestine now” campaign’s most troubling aspect is the message it sends in the wake of Hamas’ October 7, 2023, atrocities. To recognise a Palestinian state now, without meaningful Palestinian Authority (PA) reform, and with Hamas still ruling Gaza, constitutes a dangerous reward for terrorism. Indeed, Hamas official Ghazi Hamad, who promised Hamas would repeat October 7 again and again, recently told al-Jazeera that the current recognition push was because of the October 7 attacks.
Far from advancing peace, premature recognition thus rewards the rejectionism and genocidal eliminationist strain of the Palestinian national movement. It tells Palestinian leaders and society they can bypass direct negotiations and still achieve their goals through terrorism , lawfare and continued incitement thus eroding any incentive to compromise or reform.
The Palestinian territories — divided between a corrupt, ineffective PA in the West Bank and a terrorist Hamas regime in Gaza — also fail to meet the international law criteria for statehood.
Meanwhile, the claim that Palestine recognition is needed to keep alive hopes for an eventual two-state resolution is nonsensical. The PA walked away from several comprehensive Israeli peace offers – in 2000, 2001, 2008 and 2014 – each of which would have established a sovereign Palestinian state with a capital in Jerusalem.
Since 2014, the PA has refused to even enter into negotiations with Israel for a two-state resolution, instead opting for an international pressure campaign aimed at isolating Israel. Even supposedly moderate PA figures, including President Mahmoud Abbas, remain ambivalent if not hostile toward a two-state reality with incitement and rejectionism the norm. Recognition now tells them their anti-peace tactics work.
Yes, Israelis are less open to a Palestinian state today than previously due to past Palestinian rejection of these substantive peace offers, ongoing incitement from even “moderate” Palestinian leaders, and Palestinian Authority corruption and ineffectiveness. And, above all else, the experience of completely withdrawing from Gaza in 2005 – almost 20 years ago to the day – only for the territory to be turned into a constant source of rockets and terrorism for the last 18 years, culminating in October 7.
To get the two-state resolution back on track requires reversing these trends, not misguided “recognition” of a state that does not exist and cannot exist without a return to serious bilateral negotiations with Israel.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has rightly indicated that Australia would not recognise a Palestinian state until more of the preconditions for Palestinian statehood are achieved, a stance he should retain, reiterate and expand upon in the lead up to his appearance at the UN next month.
As Albanese has repeatedly stated, Hamas must have no future role in Gaza. He also conditioned progress toward Palestinian statehood on comprehensive reform of the PA and clear guarantees that such a state will not threaten Israel’s existence and security. These reforms must be completed before recognition, because they will never be completed after it. Confusingly, Ministerial statements in recent days appear to be walking back this responsible stance.
If the international community truly wishes to help Palestinians, the path forward is clear: pressure Hamas to accept a ceasefire deal including the release of the hostages; push for the war to end with Hamas disarmed and no longer controlling Gaza; prioritise extensive reform of the Palestinian Authority; and ensure Gaza’s reconstruction is designed solely to benefit Palestinian welfare, not rebuild military infrastructure as occurred previously.
Recognising a non-existent state in defiance of legal norms, morality and practical realities, particularly while Hamas remains in Gaza, not only delays peace,it prolongs the suffering of both Gazans and Israelis. It would just be a recipe for further, unending bloodshed and conflict, not to mention the serious strains it would place on Australia’s ties with our major security ally, the United States.
