US More Isolated Than Ever as Australia Says It Will Recognize Palestinian Statehood

Australia on Monday became the latest ally of the United States to announce its intention to recognize Palestinian statehood, leaving the U.S. more isolated on the issue than ever as it continues to unequivocally support Israel's genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip.

In a joint statement, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said Australia will recognize Palestinian statehood at next month's United Nations General Assembly gathering, a decision that came after the United Kingdom, Canada, and France made similar announcements in recent weeks.

"Australia's decision helps build the historic global momentum to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East," said Albanese and Wong. "The Netanyahu government is extinguishing the prospect of a two-state solution by rapidly expanding illegal settlements, threatening annexation in the occupied Palestinian territories, and explicitly opposing any Palestinian state."

Australian supporters of Palestinian rights welcomed the government's decision while demanding more concrete action to withdraw the nation's support for Israel as it decimates and starves Gaza's population.

"Recognition is completely meaningless while Australia continues to trade, to supply arms, to have diplomatic relations, and to diplomatically protect and encourage other states to normalize relations with the very state that is committing these atrocities," said Nasser Mashni, president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network.

"Palestinian rights are not to be gifted by Western states," Mashni added. "They are not dependent on negotiation with or behaviour or approval of their colonial oppressors. Nor are they the crumbs to be thrown to Palestinians by Western states in lieu of taking the real action they are legally bound to take."

The U.S. and other nations that have refused to recognize Palestinian statehood are out of step with the overwhelming majority of the international community. Most U.N. member countries—147 out of 193—recognize a Palestinian state.

But under President Donald Trump, the U.S. has not only declined to recognize a Palestinian state—it has threatened at least one ally for moving in that direction. Last month, as Common Dreams reported, Trump said the Canadian government's conditional plan to recognize Palestinian statehood "will make it very hard" to reach a bilateral trade deal.

So far, a congressional effort to pressure Trump to recognize Palestinian statehood has garnered paltry support.

U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) is leading a letter to the president arguing that "this tragic moment has highlighted for the world the long overdue need to recognize Palestinian self-determination."

"Just as the lives of Palestinians must be immediately protected," the draft letter states, "so too must their rights as a people and nation urgently be acknowledged and upheld."

Just 18 Democratic lawmakers have signed on to the letter, according to Khanna.

"Every Dem should sign," he wrote on social media last week.