PM is right on Palestinian state

Labor’s Left won’t love him for it but Anthony Albanese is right not to join French President Emmanuel Macron in his absurd promise to recognise a manifestly non-existent Palestinian state. Mr Macron may be “outraged”, as he claims, by the scenes of devastation and starvation in Gaza. He’s not alone. The Prime Minister is, too.

But to use that as the basis for a decision that Hamas, which bears heavy responsibility for the Gazans’ plight, has applauded and rewards the terrorists for their October 7, 2023, slaughter of 1200 Jews and abduction of 250 hostages underlines Mr Macron is wrong.

In an ABC interview on Sunday, Mr Albanese wisely steered Australia well clear. Australia would recognise a Palestinian state only after key conditions, such as the removal from power of Hamas, were met and there was assurance that such a state would not threaten the existence of Israel. The last presidential election in Palestine, he noted, was in 2005. Mr Albanese also pointed out the need for a “structure” for a state before Australia could recognise it – an apparent reference to the 1933 Montevideo Convention, which sets out long-accepted criteria for statehood.

That was doubtless not what former foreign ministers Gareth Evans and Bob Carr wanted to hear. But to Mr Albanese’s credit, he has been prepared to face down pressure from those who irrationally want Australia to turn its back on our 75-year-old close alliance with Israel.

Doing so would also have added another major dimension to the Albanese government’s testy relations with the Trump administration, given the US President’s undisguised contempt for Mr Macron’s recognition statement. “What he says doesn’t matter,” Mr Trump said. Mr Albanese also acknowledged the crucial role of the US in the Middle East.

That is a lesson France’s popinjay President, the first leader of a major Western power to recognise Palestinian statehood, has yet to learn. He has been naive in falling for the cunning of Hamas, which, after three weeks of negotiations on a ceasefire, pulled up stumps last week as the international outcry against Israel offered the terrorists an enhanced propaganda opportunity.

The second item on Hamas’s negotiating agenda, suddenly, became getting the US/ Israeli Gaza Humanitarian Foundation out of Gaza. Whatever its flaws, the group provides two million free meals a day to Gazans. Hamas doesn’t like that; it’s not part of its evil strategy. Airdrops started by Israel and several Arab states at the weekend will doubtless become a new cause for outrage by the terrorists as they seek to exploit the starvation of Gazans as a weapon of war. Mr Macron’s belief that recognition of a Palestinian state has the slightest relevance to the current crisis is breathtaking.