At a United Nations summit ahead of the annual General Assembly in New York on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron declared, “Today, France recognizes the state of Palestine. We must pave the way for peace.” Soon after, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Portugal announced that they, too, were prepared to recognize a Palestinian state.
At Monday’s White House press briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that President Donald Trump “disagrees” with the decisions and “believes it is a reward to Hamas.” Leavitt added the president “feels this does not do anything to release the hostages, which is the primary goal right now in Gaza” and “does nothing to end this conflict and bring this war to a close.”
The New York Times reported:
Among the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, only the United States now objects to Palestinian statehood. Yet Washington’s opposition is crucial, because the permanent members wield veto power. The Security Council has the power to approve statehood, and the United States stands in the way.Last year, under President Biden, Washington blocked the Council from moving forward on a Palestinian bid to be recognized as a full member state at the United Nations. The vote was 12 in favor of the resolution, with only the United States opposed. Britain and Switzerland abstained.
Although Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has at times criticized Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, she continues to oppose the recognition of a Palestinian state. Her latest rejection of the initiative sparked protests across the country on Monday, as leftist groups, Islamist organizations, and Muslim gangs took to the streets to voice their anger. In several cities — most notably Milan and Rome — the demonstrations quickly turned violent, with widespread reports of clashes with law enforcement, road and port blockages, and vandalism of police stations and other public property.
Photos of the mayhem can be viewed in the social media post below.
Conservative influencer @realMaalouf reported that “Milan right now looks like a literal war zone. … Total chaos.”
In remarks before the General Assembly on Tuesday morning, Trump pushed back against the madness. He reiterated his position that after the atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023, recognition of a Palestinian state is a reward for Hamas. He demanded that the terrorist group “Release the hostages now!”
The overwhelming number of Western governments expressing their support for a two-state solution makes me wonder if they’ve collectively lost their minds.
Despite the propaganda, Palestinians are not the victims in this conflict. In many cases, Palestinians are members of Hamas. Some even participated in the atrocities that occurred on Oct. 7, 2023. Others held hostages captive in their homes afterward.
A June 2024 survey by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that Palestinian support for Hamas stood at 75%. As the war dragged on, that backing declined, but by May 2025, the center reported that 57% of Palestinians in the West Bank and 43% in Gaza still supported the terror group.
According to the poll, Palestinians favor Hamas leaders over Fatah and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, with 81% saying they would like him to resign.
Moreover, 50% of Palestinians surveyed in May said that Hamas’s depraved attacks were “correct.”
Finally, it must be noted that within two years of Israel’s “disengagement” from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Hamas had taken over its leadership.
This brings us back to why Western leaders still think a two-state solution in Israel is the answer. Hot Air’s David Strom has a pretty good idea. They are “caving on Israel because they are afraid of the monster they created.” He explains:
It’s because they are scared of the Muslims they have imported. They are doing so for the same reason they are arresting Britons for waving British, English, Welsh, or Scottish flags while ignoring Muslims waving the flags of Hamas and Hezbollah: they are scared witless.They do this because they know two things: Britons will not slit somebody’s throat if they are confronted and have a flag ripped away from them, and that many Muslims will do so without a second thought….They are terrified. So terrified that they allow gangs to r@pe children, and have been doing so for decades.And it’s not just the radical Muslims of whom they are terrified. They are terrified of Antifa and the radicals who have attached themselves to the Palestinian cause. The left sees the Palestinian cause as embodying every cause they coalesce around. The socialists have adopted the cause, as has every radical group….Climate change used to be the unifying cause. Palestine is now. The issues are excuses for attacking the West, not the reason they do so.Western leaders are scared to fight for our civilization, and Israel is just the baby they are throwing to the wolves.Cowardice, not principle, has led them to this juncture.
Kudos to Giorgia Meloni for standing up for the Israelis.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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