Joint statement from Jewish community organisations in Australia, Canada, and the UK on Palestinian statehood.

Today, the Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs released the following joint statement:

As rep­res­ent­at­ive organ­isa­tions of Jewish com­munit­ies in Australia, Canada and the UK we call on our gov­ern­ments to keep central to their dip­lo­mat­ic efforts to end the dev­ast­at­ing conflict in Gaza, the following pri­or­it­ies:

• the return of all remaining hostages taken on or before 7 October 2023, living and dead;
• the disarming of Hamas and its removal from power;
• the need for unres­tric­ted aid to reach civilians in Gaza, whilst ensuring it is not diverted to serve Hamas’s interests;
• the oblig­a­tion of all parties to adhere to inter­na­tion­al law.

The terrible human­it­ari­an con­di­tions in Gaza are a source of great concern to us all, and need to be addressed urgently. We also hear the voices of many Israelis, including hostage family members, calling on Israel’s gov­ern­ment to pri­or­it­ise an agreement to bring the hostages home. We know from horrific videos issued by Hamas that the hostages who remain alive are being starved to the point of death, are denied access to the Red Cross and do not have much time.

We are gravely concerned that our gov­ern­ments’ announced inten­tions to recognise a Palestini­an state at the UN this month are seen by Hamas as a reward for its violence and rejec­tion­ism towards Israel, and these announce­ments have therefore lessened rather than maximised pressure for the hostages’ release and for Hamas to disarm. Indeed, Hamas has welcomed our gov­ern­ments’ declar­a­tions of an intention to recognise a Palestini­an state at the UN later this month as the “fruits of October 7.” Extrem­ists have answered their call for escal­a­tions in global violence by carrying out brutal assaults on Jews — citizens of each of our countries. For the sake of a better future for Israelis, Palestini­ans, and the wider Middle East, it is an imper­at­ive to avoid serving this agenda.

Recog­nising a Palestini­an state while Hamas remains armed and in control of territory would also be a betrayal of the Palestini­ans who remain under Hamas’s control and have become increas­ingly vocal in their oppos­i­tion to being ruled by a terrorist organ­isa­tion.

Let it never be forgotten that Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza initiated this war; they remain openly committed to the genocidal goal of des­troy­ing Israel as a State and expelling or erad­ic­at­ing its Jewish pop­u­la­tion; they have sys­tem­at­ic­ally embedded their military forces within and beneath civilian homes and civilian infra­struc­ture in Gaza, while targeting civilians in Israel; and they have prolonged the war and the agony of the people of Gaza, despite having been routed mil­it­ar­ily. They have done this with the backing of Iran, which not only remains committed to Israel’s destruc­tion but directly threatens our own com­munit­ies.

Whilst our gov­ern­ments have each demanded that Hamas release the hostages, give up power and disarm, they have not made the ful­fil­ment of these demands a pre­con­di­tion of recog­ni­tion of a Palestini­an state. Our gov­ern­ments are in effect saying that the ful­fil­ment of these require­ments post-recog­ni­tion will be taken on trust and left for some unspe­cified time in the future. This is a posture that lacks cred­ib­il­ity, borders on reck­less­ness, and sets up Palestini­an statehood for failure from the outset. It will therefore set back rather than advance prospects for a genuine peace based on the inter­na­tion­ally-endorsed principle of two states for two peoples.

We urge our gov­ern­ments to recon­sider.