Canada plans to recognize Palestinian state, joining France, UK

Thomas Seal, Bloomberg News on Jul 30, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

VANCOUVER, Canada — Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada plans to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations summit in September, following France while setting up a clash with the U.S. and Israel.

Carney said Canada’s long-favored approach of a two-state solution through a negotiated settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority was “no longer tenable.” He said that process had been “gravely eroded” by Hamas terrorism and its rejection of Israel’s right to exist, as well as recent Israeli actions such as accelerated settlement building and a Knesset vote calling for the annexation of the West Bank.

“The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable – and is rapidly deteriorating,” Carney said in Ottawa on Wednesday.

Carney said the declaration relied upon commitments made by the Palestinian Authority, and that its president, Mahmoud Abbas, had committed to reforms and to holding elections in 2026 in which Hamas can play no part. He also said the Palestinian state must be demilitarized.

Canada is the third Group of Seven country to pivot on the central question of Palestinian statehood in the last several weeks. Earlier in July, French President Emmanuel Macron said he would would recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. in September. A few days later, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the U.K. would follow suit, if Israel won’t stop its war in Gaza and commit to a two-state solution. Both Starmer and Macron also said Hamas must release all hostages and disarm.

Israel quickly said it “rejected” the move.

“Let us be clear: Israel will not bow to the distorted campaign of international pressure against it,” Iddo Moed, Israel’s ambassador to Canada, said in an emailed statement. “We will not sacrifice our very existence by permitting the imposition of a jihadist state on our ancestral homeland that seeks our annihilation.”

Canada’s Conservative Party also said the unilateral declaration “sends the wrong message to the world: that violence and terror are effective tools for achieving political objectives.” The opposition also said it’s “impossible” that, at this moment, Hamas wouldn’t play a central role in any validated Palestinian state.

The U.S., Israel’s top ally, has rejected the growing recognition movement. President Donald Trump dismissed France’s plan for recognition last week saying it wouldn’t change anything. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio went further, deriding the growing statehood push as “reckless” and one that “sets back peace.”

International concerns have mounted in the wake of Israel’s military response to Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack, with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres saying Gaza is now on the brink of famine and that Palestinians there are “enduring a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions.”

Ceasefire talks faltered last week. The United Nations has been holding a special conference this week on settling the conflict, which the U.S. boycotted.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called international pressure a “distorted campaign” and that demands to end the war now mean leaving Hamas in power in Gaza. Establishing such a state at this time means creating a “Jihadist terror state” a few kilometers away from Israel, and this “ain’t gonna happen,” he added.

Hamas is designated as a terror organization by the European Union, Canada, the U.S. and others.

Trump, typically a staunch defender of Israel, said the U.S. would work on a new effort to provide food aid to alleviate starvation in Gaza — at odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who’s said there’s no starvation.

____

(With assistance from Brian Platt.)