Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday that his country will recognize a Palestinian state in September, joining a growing list of Western allies as international condemnation and anger builds over Israel’s actions in Gaza.
A formal recognition will be made at the United Nations General Assembly next month, where “Australia will recognize the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own predicated on the commitments Australia has received from the Palestinian Authority,” Albanese said at a press conference.
On Monday, New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said his country was also considering recognizing a Palestinian state, and would make a decision at a cabinet meeting in September.
“New Zealand has been clear for some time that our recognition of a Palestinian state is a matter of when, not if,” Peters said in a statement, echoing the language used by Australian officials in the weeks leading up to Monday’s announcement. Describing the situation in Gaza as an “absolute human catastrophe,” New Zealand Prime Minister Chrisopher Luxon said in a press conference that it was “entirely appropriate that we take the time to actually make sure we weigh up our decision and work that through in a sensible way.”
Australia joins the United Kingdom, France and Canada in announcing plans to recognize a Palestinian state in September. The move leaves the United States increasingly isolated from some of its closest allies in its defense of Israel’s escalating military campaign that’s decimated the besieged enclave after almost two years of war.
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