So it seems terrorism is to be rewarded. After Hamas terrorists butchered, raped, burned, and kidnapped their way across southern Israel, the international community is responding by granting them their own state. Hot on the heels of France (which, along with Saudi Arabia, is co-sponsoring a UN conference on Palestinian statehood), the United Kingdom announced on Tuesday it was ready to recognize a Palestinian state.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer revealed that recognition will be announced in September unless Israel takes “substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza,” and that Israel must also meet other conditions, including agreeing to a ceasefire, committing to a long-term sustainable peace that delivers a two-state solution, and allowing the United Nations to restart the supply of aid, or the UK would take the step at September’s UN General Assembly.
“We demand an immediate ceasefire to stop the slaughter, that the UN be allowed to send humanitarian assistance into Gaza on a continuing basis to prevent starvation, and the immediate release of the hostages. We support the US, Qatari, and Egyptian governments in their attempts to bring about a ceasefire,” Starmer stated during his announcement.
The British leader also reaffirmed that Hamas is a terrorist organization responsible for atrocities, including the October 7 massacre, and “must never be rewarded.”
What does Europe not understand about the Israel-Hamas War?
Yet this is exactly what the UK has done, and exactly what many have tried to explain to them. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, Combat Against Antisemitism, the British Board of Deputies, and the Hostage Families Forum have all expressed their disbelief at the concept that terror is rewarded simply because Hamas is now losing the war, and as is usually the case, innocent Gazans are suffering.
Perhaps Sir Keir or his Foreign Minister, David Lammy, have once again inherently failed to understand what has been taking place in this part of the world in the past few months.
Hamas has rejected opportunity after opportunity to sit down, sign a ceasefire deal, and release the hostages. In April. In May. In June. In July.
Just four days ago, Trump himself said, “Hamas doesn’t really want to make a deal.”
Yet, and for the umpteenth time, nations have placed the onus on Israel to “make a deal.”
Asked about criticism of the UK’s intentions on Wednesday, British Transport Minister Heidi Alexander said “reward” was not the right way to characterize Britain’s plan.
“This is not a reward for Hamas. Hamas is a vile terrorist organization that has committed appalling atrocities. This is about the Palestinian people. It’s about those children that we see in Gaza who are starving to death.”
There is a striking historical irony here for those calling on Israel to make peace. The Irish Republican Army spent 30 years trying to force the British out of Northern Ireland. The IRA did not receive statehood as a reward for its bombing campaigns. In Algeria, France’s bloody withdrawal followed decades of war, not unilateral recognition. And the Taliban, for all the West’s engagement, was never rewarded with statehood – they simply succeeded in driving the Americans out. Why then is Hamas, which burned babies alive and paraded women through Gaza’s streets, being granted political dividends?
And supposing all that the UK wishes comes to fruition: the war ends, a ceasefire is signed, hostages are released, and the Palestinians are given their own state. Will Hamas not simply come back onto the political stage under the guise of a different name? Will its supporters, of which there are plenty still in Gaza and the West Bank, not continue the struggle against Israel, as they have stated many times post October 7?
It is incomprehensible that foreign politicians can be so ignorant as to assume that because they demand that Hamas cease to exist, they will comply.
“October 7 didn’t happen because Palestinians were denied a state; it happened because they were given one,” Mosab Hassan Yousef, more famously known as Son of Hamas, wrote on social media Wednesday morning. Perhaps he has a point. Gaza has been Israeli-free (barring hostages) for nearly 20 years, and all it led to was war after war culminating in October 7.
If the world wants peace, there is a path. Pressure Hamas to surrender, release all hostages, disarm, and allow international and Palestinian moderates to rebuild. But instead, the West is once more leaning on Israel, urging restraint while offering incentives to the aggressors.