Global reactions pour in as UK, Australia and Canada recognise Palestinian state

More than 100 years after the Balfour Declaration backed “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”, the UK, along with Canada, Australia and Portugal officially announced their recognition of a Palestinian state on Sunday. 

France is expected to imminently follow suit.

Expectedly, this historical injunction has drawn fierce criticism from the Israeli government. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that the establishment of a Palestinian state “will not happen”, adding that Israel’s response to the moves would come after he returned to Israel from his visit to the United States.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4 Today programme on Monday, Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said "the Jewish community will never forgive Labour for this betrayal".

As the announcements trickled in over recent days, online social media users expressed different views.

A wave of voices dismissed the move as “performative recognition” unlikely to make any change to stop the ongoing genocide in Gaza and annexation of the occupied West Bank.

"Recognition of a state that doesn’t exist and not the genocide befalling the people of the non-existent state is a cover for actually doing something of consequence," said Palestinian writer Yara Hawari on X.

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