The recent acts by Norway, Spain, and Ireland to recognize a Palestinian state should not come as a surprise to any of us. All three have a long history of bias against Israel, each in their own right, and have all made previous attempts to portray it to the world.
In December 2012, the Norwegian parliament passed a motion urging the government to recognize Palestine as a state. This move was symbolic and aimed at pushing for a two-state solution, reflecting Norway’s support for Palestinian self-determination. In 2014, the Spanish parliament passed a nonbinding resolution urging the government to recognize Palestine as a state, and Ireland was the first EU member state to endorse the recognition of a Palestinian state in 1980.
Ironically, although Ireland has based its support for Palestine on the shared struggle against British policies, it has subsequently tied the two via organizations that have been linked to terrorism, such as the PLO and the Irish Republican Army.
Almost none of the hostile acts against Israel began due to the war in Gaza. Norway has been a significant supporter of various international human rights organizations that monitor and report on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This support includes funding for NGOs working on documenting human rights abuses and providing humanitarian aid to Palestinian communities. Despite claims against UNRWA employees taking an active role in the October 7 massacre, Spain decided to reward the organization with $3.8 million as donors pulled their support. In December, Spain awarded UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini its highest honor “in recognition of the Agency’s critical role in Gaza and the region.”
Due to their well-documented bias, as well as Spain’s support for the International Court of Justice South African-led case against Israel, it is unfair to claim the current situation was brought on by the inability of the Israeli Foreign Ministry to properly combat the recent movement. To claim so is to ignore facts and clear signs of anti-Israel motions.
We must call this child by its name: Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions on steroids. During the war in Gaza, Israel has gone to great lengths to protect human lives even at the cost of endangering its own soldiers. It has set a gold standard for urban warfare, utilizing tactics that have never been used before on such a complex battlefield, and has worked tirelessly to allow humanitarian aid to be brought in.
If the free world understood that Hamas’s acts justify statehood, it has clearly forgotten the heinous attack that led to the murder of innocent children, men, and women. They have turned a blind eye to those being held illegally in Gaza for more than half a year. They have forgotten what human rights are. A Palestinian state was never a plausible solution, and it definitely strikes the wrong message now. Nonetheless, to pretend Spain, Norway, and Ireland were ever staunch supporters of Israel would be a false narrative we must not buy into.
The writer is a political adviser specializing in the field of international affairs. The opinions expressed here are his own.