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Australia to Recognize Palestinian State at UN, Prompting Sharp Backlash From Israel, Local Jewish Community
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during a press conference at the Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, June 17, 2024. Photo: Lukas Coch/Pool via REUTERS
Australia will formally recognize a Palestinian state during the United Nations General Assembly’s annual debate in September, joining a growing list of European nations backing the move despite sharp criticism from Israeli leaders and the country’s Jewish community.
“Australia will recognize the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own. We will work with the international community to make this right a reality,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Monday during a press conference.
Albanese described a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as “humanity’s best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to bring an end to the conflict, suffering, and starvation in Gaza.”
The prime minister also said he had received assurances from the Palestinian Authority (PA) — which has governed much of the West Bank without holding elections for two decades — that there would be “no role for the terrorists of Hamas in any future Palestinian state.”
Australia’s announcement comes after France first declared last month its intention to recognize a Palestinian state, with other Western countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada, joining the effort.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned Australia’s decision, calling it “a reward for terror, a prize for the enemies of freedom, liberty, and democracy.”
“This is a grave and dangerous mistake, which will not help a single Palestinian and sadly will not bring back a single hostage,” the Israeli leader said during a press conference, referring to the dozens of Israeli hostages still being by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, also condemned the country’s latest decision, saying it “undermines Israel’s security, derails hostage negotiations and hands a victory to those who oppose coexistence.”
Albanese is also facing escalating criticism from Australia’s Jewish community and leaders who strongly oppose the move.
The Australian Jewish Association condemned the government’s decision, calling it a reward for Hamas and its brutal atrocities during the group’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“This is more than a betrayal of a friend. It is a reckless attack on the Jewish people in Australia and abroad,” the statement read. “The decision will do nothing to advance peace in the Middle East since the Albanese Government has no influence there.”
“It is Australian Jews who bear the brunt of Labor’s actions, which have contributed to firebombing of synagogues and attacks on Jews,” it continued.
AUSTRALIA REWARDS TERROR WITH STATEHOOD
Statement from AJA CEO Robert Gregory
Today, the Australian Labor Party announced it will recognise a non-existent ‘State of Palestine’, rewarding the Hamas atrocities of October 7.
This is more than a betrayal of a friend. It is a… pic.twitter.com/flrQSZrXsw
— Australian Jewish Association (@AustralianJA) August 11, 2025
Australia has faced an onslaught of antisemitic incidents, including violent attacks and arson targeting synagogues, over the past year, many of which appear to have been motivated by anti-Israel animus amid the war in Gaza.
The Zionist Federation of Australia also denounced the move by Albanese, warning that “moving forward while Hamas remains in power and the Palestinian Authority has not delivered verified reforms will only undermine peace efforts and reward terrorism.”
“Recognition without agreed borders, a single governing authority, or a demonstrated capacity for peaceful coexistence does not advance peace. It departs from Australia’s bipartisan position and risks delaying, rather than resolving, the conflict,” the statement read.
On Monday, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters announced that his country would also consider recognizing a Palestinian state at next month’s UN General Assembly.
Peters said New Zealand’s recognition of a Palestinian state was “a matter of when, not if,” though he acknowledged it was “not a straightforward, clear-cut issue.”
Last week, senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad declared that “the initiative by several countries to recognize a Palestinian state is one of the fruits of Oct. 7.”
“We proved that victory over Israel is not impossible, and our weapons are a symbol of Palestinian dignity,” Hamad told Al Jazeera.
Senior Hamas officials have repeatedly vowed to carry out more attacks similar to its Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, in which Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages during their rampage across southern Israel.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.