Besides providing an “encouragement of terror,” Hotovely argued that recognition would merely serve as an act of “grandstanding and virtue-signaling" in the West while having little impact in the Middle East.
A similar sentiment was echoed by leading Jewish figures in the UK, who have expressed concerns over how the Prime Minister will respond to pressures to follow French President Macron’s lead.
Board of Deputies president Phil Rosenberg stated in the Telegraph this weekend that unilateral recognition of Palestine will not improve the current crisis in Gaza, which “requires practical solutions, not gesture politics.”
“After decades of statements and declarations, it should be clear to all parties that declaring something does not make it the case,” Rosenberg wrote. “Any Palestinian state will need to be created to thrive in reality, not only in the minds of policy-makers. As UK ministers have rightly argued, recognition should be used when it can contribute materially to the endgame of a diplomatic process.”
Members of the Labour party have already responded to President Macron’s declaration to recognise Palestine by urging their leader to follow suit in a letter signed by 131 MPs. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and London Mayor Sadiq Khan have also pressed the PM to act urgently.
Meanwhile Israeli ministers and US leaders have condemned the decision, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling it a move that “rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became” and US President Donald Trump insisting that “it’s not going to change anything.”
