Palestinian state is still a myth

With 193 member states and a long history of supporting outlandish anti-Israel resolutions, there is little doubt how Friday night’s (AEST) UN General Assembly Palestine debate is likely to go. In casting Australia’s ballot on a motion to admit Palestine as a full UN member, with all the rights and privileges that entails, the Albanese government must put the national interest first. It should not be swept up in mob instinct and cynical concerns about the next election. Most importantly, it must not reward Hamas for its October 7 mass slaughter and kidnappings, which sparked the war that has devastated Gaza.

Neither should it reward the Palestinian Authority, which, for seven months, has refused to condemn the terrorist atrocity, and makes “pay for slay” payments from its “Martyrs’ Fund” to families of terrorists who kill and maim Israelis, including those involved in the October 7 pogrom. The PA would be a big winner if a non-existent Palestinian state, with none of the basic requirements of statehood, is elevated to full UN membership. As the Executive Council of Australian Jewry has warned Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong, a “Palestine state cannot be declared into existence. It must exist in fact”. The gambit of Palestinian leaders is to win recognition by stealth through the UN, rather than negotiate with Israel. Many UN General Assembly members will go along with that ploy. Australia must not.

Senator Wong has been consulting other nations, including the UK, which abstained on a similar motion in the UN Security Council last month. The US used its veto to block the vote. We have also been talking with Japan, South Korea and France, which threw their support behind full Palestinian membership. The US veto in the Security Council, fortunately, means whatever the General Assembly decides, full membership for Palestine will not ensue. But that does not change the significance of how Australia votes. Amid dangerous anti-Semitism sweeping the nation, the government must get it right. For 75 years, Australia, home of a valued Jewish community, has enjoyed the closest possible relationship with Israel. This is no time to put that at risk. Mr Albanese and Senator Wong have made clear their sympathy for the Palestinian cause. But our national interest deserves better than falling in line behind the 143 UN member states, many small and irrelevant, that recognise Palestinian statehood. Doing so would be an intolerable prize for Hamas’ s evil.