JAY GOLDBERG: Carney’s plan to recognize a Palestinian state rewards terrorism

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Rewarding terror. That’s precisely what Prime Minister Mark Carney’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state in September will do.

Less than two years after more than 1,000 Jews were murdered and others raped and abducted, in the deadliest attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust, Carney plans to join other misguided world leaders in handing Hamas one of its primary aims.

To unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state while there are still hostages being held by Hamas is not just reckless, it is a confession of downright moral bankruptcy.

Carney claims he will only recognize a Palestinian state so long as Hamas is not involved in its governance and real commitments are made by the Palestinian Authority to hold elections in 2026, 21 years into Mahmoud Abbas’s five-year term, among other conditions.

As Carney said in a statement: This move “is predicated on the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to much-needed reforms.”

Anyone who believes the Palestinian Authority will truly change, democratize and treat the Palestinian people well, because countries like Canada take this ill-advised step, is hopelessly naïve.

With Carney’s decision to join with the U.K.’s Sir Keir Starmer and France’s Emmanuel Macron in making this move, he is joining a group of appeasers who are abandoning the lessons of the 1930s.

The West bravely fought fascism for the better part of a decade and communism for half a century. But right now, too many world leaders are kowtowing to terrorism.

As Winston Churchill once said, “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”

Imagine if the West had not stood strong against the temptation in the 1980s to cut a deal with the Soviet Union. Where would the world be today if leaders then didn’t have the courage to stand up for moral clarity and not just take the easy way out?

Peace through strength is more than a slogan. It’s a foreign policy principle. It’s not just about having the weapons necessary to hold off one’s adversaries. It’s also about being steadfast in the face of challenges.

Carney’s approach seems to be cowardice through weakness.

To recognize Palestinian statehood in the shadow of the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks on Israel also sends the worst possible message to every other terrorist group around the world: If you keep at it long enough, the West will cave.

Israel’s actions haven’t always been perfect. But disagreeing with Israel’s approach should be a separate issue from Palestinian statehood.

It’s also worth remembering that Israel is the only true democracy in the Middle East. Change in public policy should come through regularly scheduled elections, with Israelis deciding the direction of their nation’s future public policy, not politicians from the other side of the globe seeking to virtue signal to various audiences.

With Carney’s latest move, it’s fair to ask what kind of message this move sends to Canada’s Jewish community as well.

Antisemitic hate crimes have soared. Parents are withdrawing their children from public schools out of fear that they won’t feel safe.

No less than 68% of all religiously motivated hate crimes were against Jewish Canadians in 2024, even though Jews account for about 1.2% of the overall Canadian population.

The message Carney’s government is sending to Canada’s Jewish community is that their government doesn’t stand with them.

The Justin Trudeau government’s foreign policy was always slanted against Israel and alienated Jewish Canadians. But the Carney government is taking the Trudeau government’s anti-Israel approach and amping it up to the next level.

Canada should not recognize a Palestinian state while Hamas continues to hold hostages captive and the corrupt Palestinian Authority continues to govern Gaza. The focus must be on releasing all remaining hostages, not rewarding Hamas’ brutality by handing the terrorist group a win less than two years after the worst atrocity against Jews since the Holocaust.