At the United Nations (UN) last week, President Trump made clear the United States would not recognize a state of Palestine, even as some other Western countries did so earlier in the week. Trump noted how political recognition would reward Hamas for its “horrible atrocities, including October 7, even while they refused to release the hostages or accept a ceasefire.”
At the United Nations (UN) last week, President Trump made clear the United States would not recognize a state of Palestine, even as some other Western countries did so earlier in the week. Trump noted how political recognition would reward Hamas for its “horrible atrocities, including October 7, even while they refused to release the hostages or accept a ceasefire.”
The president is correct, and his speech illuminated why countries that value their own sovereignty should reject the push for Palestinian statehood. Over August and September, the left-wing governments of the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Canada, and Australia recognized Palestine, joining Spain and Ireland’s recognition last year. The conservative governments of Germany and New Zealand notably did not.
Though this roughly follows Left-Right divides, many of the countries declining to recognize Palestinian statehood are notable for their more nationalist tendencies, like Italy, Hungary, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore. International consensus institutions like the UN have lined up behind the pro-Palestine cause, even as groups like Hamas pose a bigger threat to peace and Western values in the long run than Israel ever possibly could. This has led these more nationalist governments to keep their common cause with Israel’s struggle for order and sovereignty rather than ceding to international pressure.
An instructive example comes from Italy under nationalist Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Recent riots across the country, particularly in Milan and Rome, have caused enormous damage and earned Meloni’s condemnation. While Meloni has been openly critical of Israel at various points over the war in Gaza, she has been clear-eyed about Israel’s opponents as well. She has preconditioned any possibility of recognizing a Palestinian state on the exclusion of Hamas from any governing role and the release of all Israeli hostages taken prior to the war. Meloni correctly noted that the primary pressure should be on Hamas instead of Israel, having both instigated the war and whose holding of Israeli hostages is the main impediment to a ceasefire. Finding fault with Israel’s conduct is reasonable, but emboldening Islamist and leftist elements in both Europe and the Middle East would be another.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary — a populist with many fans among American nationalist politicians and activists — has been a staunch defender of Israel as a frontline against Islamic extremism and was never going to cave to demands to recognize a Palestinian state. He noted in July that the prospect of a two-state solution in the current environment is “an illusion,” and that allowing a Palestinian state would only be possible if it and Israel mutually recognized each other. But he also noted that incorporation of Palestinians into Israel’s political process would lead to the rise of Islamism and the forcing out of Jewish Israelis, believing something similar is happening in many countries across Europe.
In an American context, Meloni and Orbán’s resolve is notable, as they are well regarded by more nationalist quarters of the American Right where opposition to Israel is growing. Critics often note the high monetary cost of U.S. support for Israel and would prefer spending on conservative aims domestically. And while the U.S. is often considered one of the friendliest countries to Jews, some are surely motivated by antisemitism. These views among certain paleoconservatives and populists contrast with the nationalist leaders abroad who see in Israel’s fight a mirror of their own struggle for sovereignty and cultural survival amid domestic disorder, immigration woes, and the encroachment of international institutions. Orbán and Meloni treat Israel as a partner in defending national sovereignty while opposing disorder, and Trump’s speech puts U.S. policy squarely in their camp on those very same grounds.
Trump’s demand that Hamas release the hostages as a bare minimum for ending the war underscores the reality that nationalist governments in Europe already see: The obstacle to peace is not Israel’s existence, but violent extremism. Governments that reward Hamas’s violence with Palestinian statehood are making the same mistake they make by rewarding extremism at home.
As sovereign states, countries who refuse to recognize a Palestinian state should continue to remain willing to criticize Israel when necessary: Israel is not perfect, and the interests of its political leadership will not always fully align with ours. But a line needs to be drawn against the forces that erode peace, order, and the idea of the nation-state itself.
