The widening rift between the U.S. and a coalition of European and Arab countries over Israel will be on full display next week during the United Nations General Assembly, where an increasing number of nations are defying the Trump administration to recognize a Palestinian state.
But the diplomatic gambit is highlighting the limited options available to countries that want to break with Washington on Israel. It also shows the delicate balancing act some are doing to express their displeasure with Israel’s conduct in the Gaza war while staying in the Trump administration’s good graces, News.Az reports citing Politico.
French President Emmanuel Macron is holding a meeting Monday on the sidelines of the world body’s annual gathering to recognize a Palestinian state, which at least six countries have committed to doing: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Malta, Portugal and the United Kingdom.
“We need to push back against what Israel is doing; we need to show an alternative vision,” said a European diplomat familiar with the discussions. “But the French underestimate to what extent it irritates the Trump administration.”
The diplomat was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic, as were a number of others interviewed.
Paris has offered few public details about the event, but has said it will include some countries’ outright recognition of a Palestinian state and pledges by others toward implementing it as part of a two-state solution to the conflict.
Many of the governments participating in the push are responding to domestic pressure to get more critical of Israel, especially as Israel has taken increasingly aggressive measures including striking Hamas negotiators in Qatar, launching a fresh assault on Gaza City and blocking aid to the point that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are facing famine. Israel denies pursuing policies to starve the enclave and rejects international bodies’ conclusion that famine exists there.
But those governments are also aware that the Trump administration continues to back Israel’s war: Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week in Qatar that Israel “may not have a choice but to militarily defeat” Hamas.
