Statement on the Recognition of Palestinian Statehood by the UK, Canada, Australia, Portugal and France

Two weeks ahead of the second anniversary of Hamas’ savage October 7 massacre and on the eve of the most solemn Jewish holidays, Britain, Canada, Australia, Portugal, and France are rewarding the terrorists who carried out the bloodiest attack on Jews since the Holocaust by recognizing Palestinian statehood.

With 48 hostages still in the tunnels of Gaza, these governments have handed Hamas the greatest possible diplomatic gift—proving that mass murder, the slaughter of children, rape, and abduction pay.

Just yesterday, Hamas broadcast its cruelty to the world yet again, releasing a poster of the hostages designed to inflict maximum psychological torment on the families of the captives. This is not the behavior of a society ready for statehood. It is the sadism of a death cult flaunting its inhumanity.

"If these governments truly cared about humanitarian crises, they would demand the immediate release of every last hostage before Hamas kills them all. Instead, they have abandoned the innocent men, women and children in Hamas’ brutal hands,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Director of Global Social Action at the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Diplomatic recognition under these circumstances is not diplomacy; it is appeasement. It does not bring peace one step closer; it normalizes terror and makes democracies everywhere more vulnerable.

For further information, please email Erik Simon at esimon@wiesenthal.com, Deborah Camiel at dcamiel@wiesenthal.com, join the Center on Facebook, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent directly to your X feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is an international Jewish human rights organization. It holds consultative status at the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, the OAS, and the Latin American Parliament (PARLATINO).