Global momentum behind Australia recognising Palestine

The international community is making a united effort to recognise Palestine, the prime minister says, despite a top US official saying Australia’s push is meaningless.

Anthony Albanese said there was growing momentum behind allies formally recognising Palestine, after he announced the plan to acknowledge statehood at the UN in September.

It followed countries such as the UK, France and Canada unveiling similar proposals.

“What the international community is doing is moving forward as one with a common voice that says we must end the cycle of violence,” Mr Albanese told reporters in Brisbane on Wednesday.

“You can either watch or you can do what we can, which is to be a part of momentum.”

The shift means Australia’s foreign policy has diverged from that of the US, a key ally that has for decades opposed formal recognition of Palestine.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the push for recognition by Australia and other countries would not change the situation on the ground in the Middle East.

“It’s largely meaningless, right? It’s symbolic and they’re doing it primarily for one reason and that is their internal politics, their domestic politics,” he said in a US radio interview.

“The future of that region is not going to be decided by some UN resolution.

It’s not going to be decided by some press release by a prime minister or a president from some country. It’s going to be decided on the ground.”

The US has declined to directly criticise Australia despite President Donald Trump suggesting a similar move from Canada could affect trade talks.

The president has an open mind on the status of Palestine despite not backing statehood, the White House has indicated.

Overnight, Australia was one of more than 20 countries that issued a joint statement calling for urgent action by Israel to allow aid to enter Gaza.

“The humanitarian suffering in Gaza has reached unimaginable levels. Famine is unfolding before our eyes,” the statement said.

Humanitarian space must be protected and aid should never be politicised.”

The prime minister said Israel’s actions to block aid to the region was “not defensible”.

“It’s certainly not something that’s consistent with international law,” he told ABC radio on Wednesday.

“We’re also seeing people killed while trying to get access to food and water. Now, in 2025, that’s completely unacceptable.

It is an affront to common decency and community humanity what is happening in Gaza.”

Israel has denied responsibility for the lack of food in the Gaza Strip, accusing Hamas of stealing aid shipments.

It also rejects that there is starvation among the population, although international human rights groups accuse it of throttling the flow of food to Gaza for months.

Israel’s embassy in Australia said the government needed to focus on the situation faced by hostages held by the terrorist organisation Hamas.

“While we share the concern for the humanitarian suffering in Gaza, it is deeply troubling that the plight of Israeli hostages, men and women held by the Hamas terror organisation is reduced to a single line at the bottom of the statement,” a spokesman said.

“We have yet to hear the Australian government speak with the same urgency about their humanitarian situation.”

Australia will join more than 140 UN member states in recognising Palestine, but Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said the prime minister’s priorities were wrong.

“He’s clearly distracted by what he’s been talking about now for weeks with respect to Palestinian recognition, that is actually not going to make the world a safer place,” she told Seven’s Sunrise program.

The coalition has pledged to reverse the recognition decision should it win the next election.

By: Andrew Brown and Kat Wong/AAP