In the face of widespread criticism of Israel and its western allies for the inhuman devastation of life and expansionist agenda in Gaza by the right-wing Government of Netanyahu, Canada, France, and Britain have announced their plan to recognise the Palestinian State at the 80th General Assembly of the United Nations in September 2025.
In a statement on July 30, 2025, Canada has held Israel responsible for “rapidly deteriorating humanitarian disaster in Gaza” and its “annexation of the West Bank”, saying that “international action to support peace, security and the dignity of all human life” cannot be further delayed, while condemning HAMAS for its “heinous terrorist attack of October 7, 2023”.
The plan to recognise Palestine State has received a mixed responce, yet overwhelmingly favourable. It has been described as ‘significant’ but ‘largely symbolic’ unless it means a major practical action on the ground.
The significance of the paradigm shift in the policy can be measured in two ways: one, it can potentially isolate both the Netanyahu-led Israeli Government and the Trump-led US administration diplomatically; two, it can create strategic space and consolation for the Palestinian population. The policy change by the three G7 member States adds legitimacy to the ICJ and UN reports and verdicts, and strength to the policy position of 147 of the 193 member states of the UN who have already formally recognised the Palestinian State. Now four (France, UK, Russia, and China) of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council will agree on the recognition of an independent Palestinian State. The move is viewed ‘symbolic’ because France, the UK, and Canada have not proposed any punitive sanctions against Israel if it does not stop using ‘hunger as a weapon’ and a war forcing the Palestinian population to vacate the region. Yet the recognition plan is not ‘an empty pipe’: it, at least morally, strengthens the UN position for an immediate ceasefire. The move can embolden the domestic voices against Netanyahu not only in these countries but in the USA too, embarrassing the Trump administration for its support of the one-sided Israeli war against the innocent Palestinians. The move may also prompt other countries to follow the suit if these countries act together. As a follow up, Australia too have joined the trio to recognise the Palestine State in the September UN meeting.
Fen Hampson, a professor of international affairs at Carleton University, has acknowledged that Canada’s intention is “part of a pressure tactic on Israel,” creating a new political axis among France, the UK, and Canada in the region. It is, according to him, a “major decision” reflecting “frustration with the Netanyahu Government”. According to the former Canadian ambassador to Israel from 2006 to 2010, Jon Allen, “recognising Palestine is sending a signal to Israel, to the United States, to the world, and to Palestinians” that the two-state solution is important. The move can help Palestine as a sovereign State to claim their legal rights over its territory, territorial waters, and air space. Supporting the move, a progressive Jewish group, J Space Canada, has called it a “significant and courageous step” as being “shared by the majority of Canadian Jews”. On the other side, reacting to the move, Israel’s Ambassador to Canada has labelled the move as a “reward to Hamas” and has warned: “Israel will not bow to the distorted campaign of international pressure against it”, although the power of the move reflects in Israel response in deploying air drops of aid and relaxation in restrictions on food entering Gaza. The lesson is that even the strongest desire to continue the war and destroy the opponent to bow’ can not be sustained if opposed with an equally strong antidote for it.
But for any immediate concrete gains, the effort should be cumulative in the realignment of the US stake and role in the geopolitics of the region. This is necessitated in view of the reality construed in the Netanyahu-led Government and the Trump-led administration statements: “From Israel’s perspective,” the Israeli ambassador has commented, “there is one external opinion that matters and it’s that of the US” It means that the US will block the Palestine State recognition in September using its veto power in the UN. Trump himself has taken the offence and warned to block the trade negotiations with Canada for its Palestine recognition plan.
But the question is who Trump is supporting between ‘Netanyahu or the Jews’ and ‘Netanyahu or the US warfare and oil corporations’. Its answer can be searched in the profit reports of the US war corporate and Israeli companies. Francesca Albanese, a UN representative, concludes in her report: “Arms companies have turned over near record profits by equipping Israel with cutting-edge weaponry”. According to Times of India news report: “The arms industry, driven by geopolitical tensions and conflicts, has become a major economic force, with US-led companies taking the lion’s share of revenues”. The Stockholm Peace Research Institute 2024 report says that in 2023, the global arms revenue rose 4.2 per cent over the previous year, with the US companies like Lockheed Martin, RTX, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Caterpillar and General Dynamics sharing half of the global total of $632 billion; the shares of these companies are reportedly on the rise. The Israeli companies, Elbit Systems and Rafael, too, have substantially profited from the war and entered the international market. These companies are using the Gaza war as a testing ground, helping to market their products as “battle-tested”.
By supporting Netanyahu, Trump, therefore, is promoting warfare corporate, US, and his cult, not the Jews of Israel. Although he projects himself as a ‘peacekeeper’, his interests and actions are war like: unilateral trade war. Netanyahu, supported by Trump, is in a unilateral military war determined to finish the target population, while Trump himself is in a trade war threatening every country with trade tariffs. According to news reports, Netanyahu is pushing forward, though his military chief of staff pushes back, his proposal to seize the remaining areas of Gaza while Trump is escalating trade war with Canada, Brazil, India, China, Russia and others for failing to recognise what Trump desires: the world is watching the Chess Game of military and economic might.
The writer is Retired Professor from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar