Recognizing Palestinian statehood is a fool's game

PUBLISHED: September 27, 2025 | www.baltimoresun.com

This week, several countries, including Australia, Britain, Canada and France, demonstrated just how profoundly disconnected from reality the international community can be. In their infinite wisdom — or rather, their infinite foolishness — they decided to recognize Palestinian statehood.

Their stated goal is to push forward the long-elusive “two-state solution.” But anyone who has even a passing familiarity with the conflict, especially after Oct. 7, knows just how absurd this idea has become.

The notion of two states living side by side in peace has been pursued for decades — indeed, even before the state of Israel came into existence. The problem isn’t Israel’s unwillingness to negotiate. Quite the opposite. Time and again, Israel has extended an open hand. Time and again, that hand has been bitten. And time and again, only Israel has faced the wrath of world opinion.

If tomorrow Israel were to cede land, open borders and grant more concessions than the Palestinians could dream of, the result wouldn’t be peace; it would be mass violence. Terrorists would swarm into Israel, murdering civilians in their homes and taking hostages, while a disturbing portion of the Palestinian population would cheer them on. We know this, because it’s already happened.

What motivates Palestinian nationalism is not a state side by side with Israel; it is a state atop Israel’s ruins. The Palestinians would have a powerful incentive to choose violence, because, when countries recognize “Palestine,” they are rewarding the depredations of Oct. 7: A Hamas official recently said as much.

So why not commit more of them?

Look at whom the world would be handing a state: the Palestinian Authority (PA). Since at least 2004, the PA has operated a “martyrs’ fund,” handing out monthly stipends to the families of terrorists who attack Israelis. Kill a civilian, stab a teenager, ram a car into a bus stop, and your family gets a check. The Palestinian government has institutionalized and incentivized terrorism — subsidizing murder and glorifying death. How can any nation with a shred of common sense recognize such a regime as a legitimate state?

Not to mention that the PA is weak, corrupt and despised by its own people. It is not a sovereign actor and would be unable to defend itself against Hamas and other terrorist groups, either in the West Bank or Gaza.

Recognizing “Palestine” is moral cowardice dressed up as foreign policy.

Israel, meanwhile, is demonized for defending its very existence. Every time Israel strikes back at Hamas or other terror groups, and regardless of how it does so, headlines scream about “disproportionate force.” What is disproportionate about defending your children from rockets fired indiscriminately into neighborhoods? What is disproportionate about striking the infrastructure of a group that openly declares its desire to wipe Israel off the map? The hypocrisy is staggering.

The United States, thankfully, has not joined this parade of delusion. For all our flaws, we still have enough common sense to recognize reality: Israel is a democratic ally in a sea of authoritarian regimes. It respects human rights in ways that its neighbors do not. It protects religious minorities in ways that the Palestinians absolutely do not. And despite constant terrorism and provocation, Israel remains committed to the rule of law.

Britain, Canada, France and the rest seem comfortable with playing the role of useful idiot. They claim they are advancing peace, but what they are really advancing is their own sense of moral superiority. Their real purpose is to posture on the world stage, to appear enlightened and compassionate, without ever grappling with the brutal facts on the ground. It would almost be comical except that their preening comes at the expense of Israeli lives ­­— and fuels the fires of an already-raging inferno of global antisemitism.

The truth is this: Peace will never be achieved by rewarding terrorism. Peace will never be achieved by pretending that both sides are equally at fault when one side builds schools and hospitals while the other side builds tunnels and stockpiles rockets. There is no moral equivalence whatsoever.

Peace will only come when that core reality is acknowledged and addressed and when the culture of martyrdom ends — when Palestinians stop celebrating death and start building a life worth living for their children. Peace requires action from the Palestinians, not the Israelis.

Until Palestinians focus on building their own state, rather than on destroying Israel, recognizing “Palestine” is reckless. It is the foreign policy equivalent of giving matches to an arsonist and acting shocked when the house burns down. Nations that indulge in this fantasy are not helping peace. They are encouraging war.

Armstrong Williams (www.armstrongwilliams.com; @arightside) is a political analyst, syndicated columnist and owner of the broadcasting company, Howard Stirk Holdings. He is also part owner of The Baltimore Sun.

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