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LAST UPDATE | 21 Sep 2025
THE UNITED KINGDOM, Canada and Australia all recognised Palestinian statehood in coordinated statements earlier today ahead of a key UN summit, with Portugal also announcing its recognition of Palestine this evening.
The governments of the four countries all said their actions are part of an effort to bring about a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, despite the Israeli government’s outright rejection of the possibility of there ever being a Palestinian state.
“Today, to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two-state solution, the United Kingdom formally recognises the State of Palestine,” UK Prime Minister Starmer said in a message on X.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has said that Britain’s recognition of a Palestinian state was a necessary step toward lasting peace in the region.
“His excellency praised the United Kingdom’s recognition of the independent State of Palestine, affirming that it constitutes an important and necessary step toward achieving a just and lasting peace in accordance with international legitimacy,” Abbas’s office said in a statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit back at Starmer and other leaders who recognised the state of Palestine and claimed they were rewarding terrorism.
“And I have another message for you: it will not happen. There will be no Palestinian state west of the Jordan.”
Today, to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two state solution, the United Kingdom formally recognises the State of Palestine. pic.twitter.com/yrg6Lywc1s
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) September 21, 2025
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the decision to recognise Palestine had been made in the context of Israel “working methodically to prevent the prospect of a Palestinian state from ever being established”.
Australia’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, said his country recognised “the legitimate and long-held aspirations of the people of Palestine to a state of their own”.
“Today’s act of recognition reflects Australia’s longstanding commitment to a two-state solution, which has always been the only path to enduring peace and security for the Israeli and the Palestinian peoples.”
Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel told reporters in New York that recognising Palestine was the fulfilment of “a fundamental, consistent, and widely agreed policy.”
“Portugal advocates the two-state solution as the only path to a just and lasting peace, one that promotes coexistence and peaceful relations between Israel and Palestine,” he added.
Today, Canada recognises the State of Palestine. pic.twitter.com/zhumVJRBfe
— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) September 21, 2025
Tánaiste Simon Harris, who issued his statement ahead of Portugal’s announcement this evening, said he welcomed the decisions.
“Their announcement today means there are now over 150 countries, including Ireland which took the decision to do so last year, who recognise Palestinian statehood,” he said.
Israel, whose government is completely opposed to Palestinian statehood, has reacted angrily to other Western countries that have recently recognised Palestine, including Ireland.
The United States has also opposed the moves, and like Israel claimed recognition of Palestine is a “reward” for Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier today that the creation of a Palestinian state would endanger Israel’s survival.
“We will also need to fight, both at the UN and in all other arenas, against the false propaganda directed at us and against calls for a Palestinian state, which would endanger our existence and serve as absurd reward for terrorism,” Netanyahu told his cabinet.
“The international community will hear from us on this matter in the coming days.”
Israel’s extremist national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has said that the recognition today by Canada, the UK and Australia should be met with “countermeasures”, including the annexation of the occupied West Bank.
“The recognition by Britain, Canada, and Australia of a Palestinian state… requires immediate countermeasures: the swift application of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria and the complete dismantling of the Palestinian Authority,” Ben Gvir, a convicted supporter of terrorism, said in a statement, using the Israeli name for the West Bank.
“I intend to submit a proposal for applying sovereignty at the upcoming cabinet meeting.”
Ben Gvir’s fellow cabinet minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has also repeatedly called for the annexation of the West Bank, made a similar statement.
“The days when Britain and other countries would determine our future are over. The mandate is over, and the only response to this anti-Israeli move is sovereignty over the historic homeland of the Jewish people in Judea and Samaria, and permanently removing the folly of a Palestinian state from the agenda,” Smotrich said on X.
“Mr prime minister, the time is now and it is in your hands,” he wrote.
Meanwhile in Gaza City, Israeli strikes killed at least 34 people overnight, including children, health officials said, as Israel pressed ahead with its offensive in the famine-stricken city.
Health officials at Shifa Hospital said the dead included 14 people killed in a late-night strike on Saturday, which hit a residential block in the southern side of the city.
Health staff said a nurse who worked at the hospital was among the dead, along with his wife and three children.
Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 65,000 people in less than two years, has been deemed a genocide by UN investigators, human rights NGOs and scholars who study the crime.
Today’s recognition will have no immediate impact on the lives of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation and bombardment, although a recognition of Palestine as a state means a recognition of its territorial sovereignty, which could have implications in the West Bank, where hundreds of thousands of Israeli Jews live in illegal settlements.
The issue of Palestine’s self-determination is likely to dominate the gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in the coming days, with France expected to formally recognise Palestine on Monday at the UN General Assembly.
Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, who will represent the UK at the UN gathering, acknowledged there would be little immediate change from recognition.
“It’s not to say as night follows day, you recognise one day and a Palestinian state appears the next,” he told Sky News.
With reporting from AFP and Press Association
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