Three of the G7 recognize Palestine; in Ukraine, it’s stalemate amid provocations

In the Gaza Strip, there is famine, people are starving. All humanitarian organizations say so, as do the United Nations, the European Union—everyone; even Donald Trump admits it, exceptionally contradicting his ally Benjamin Netanyahu. But no one is doing anything concrete. However, the number of G7 countries pledging to recognize the State of Palestine in September, if the situation remains unchanged, has now risen to three.

France, the United Kingdom, and now Canada are thus announcing a strong, though symbolic, demonstrative act. And the tiresome debate is rekindled: “But is it really useful? Will it change anything?” As if not doing it served any purpose; as if Netanyahu had so far moderated his actions because the West—his ally—has been tolerant, if not silent, in the face of war crimes and human rights violations in Gaza, after the atrocious terrorist attacks carried out on October 7, 2023, by Hamas and other Palestinian groups in Israeli territory—1,200 victims, over 250 hostages captured, around fifty of whom have yet to be returned, dead or alive, to their families.

In nearly 22 months of war, the official death toll of Palestinians has in recent days surpassed 60,000: the sources in the Strip, whose data cannot be independently verified, do not specify how many were militants and how many civilians, but women and children make up about half of the total.

And, according to the UN, the worst may still be yet to come: now it is hunger—and the Israeli restriction of humanitarian aid, food and medicine, water and fuel for hospital generators—that is killing. “There will be widespread deaths without immediate intervention,” warn Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, and numerous other organizations operating on the ground.

Here too, a tiresome debate is triggered. Technically, can the situation in the Gaza Strip be defined as a famine? As if the issue were one of scientific or legal terminology, and not what is actually happening—children dying of hunger (just as with the distinction between genocide and massacre). The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, the internationally recognized authority on food crises, says that what is happening in Gaza is “the worst-case scenario of famine.”

In this context, French President Emmanuel Macron had already announced that France will recognize the State of Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September. And British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has also stated that the United Kingdom will recognize the State of Palestine in September if Israel does not first agree to a ceasefire with Hamas in the Strip and take steps toward a lasting resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Canada, under Prime Minister Mark Carney, will do the same—earning Trump’s ire: “Oh! Canada. Now, it’ll be harder for them to get a trade deal,” wrote the magnate-president on his social network, Truth.

The bullying attitude that worked with the European Union may not work with Carney’s Canada, which has already proven to be tough. Macron and Starmer are trying to involve Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Left out is Italy, under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who continues to call the gesture “inopportune” and “counterproductive,” ignoring the appeal of dozens of Italian experts and former diplomats.

The British decision stemmed from an emergency government meeting held on Tuesday—that is, the day after (a significant detail) Prime Minister Starmer had met with U.S. President Donald Trump, who was “granting audience” to his European allies, as if they were subjects, on golf estates he owns in Scotland. At the meeting, the Prime Minister explained: “The situation in Gaza is intolerable, the two-state solution is slipping further and further away, it is time to act.”

Trump does not agree with recognizing the State of Palestine, despite his disagreements—more or less superficial—with Netanyahu. After France’s announcement, he said that what Macron does “doesn’t matter,” even though he’s “a good guy.”

Of course, it would be far more important and meaningful if such a gesture were made by a united Europe. But the 27 member states can’t even agree on far less consequential steps, such as suspending the cooperation agreement or even just partial agreements with Israel. The Union seems more focused on not irritating Trump than on being effective in the Middle East: the result is that Trump bullies it over tariffs and Netanyahu ignores it.

In his Notes, Stefano Feltri writes that “the massacre in Gaza has erased that of October 7—and, perhaps with some exaggeration—even the Shoah: there is no longer any connection with past massacres and tragedies.”

Trump, to be fair, is also acting tough with his other war criminal ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin—the term that lumps Netanyahu and Putin together comes from the arrest warrants issued against them by the International Criminal Court: he had given him 50 days, that is all of August, to end the war in Ukraine; now he is ordering him to do it by the beginning of August.

We’ll see. For now, war reporting from Ukraine seems muted, but that doesn’t mean fighting and bombing have stopped. And Russia—according to CNN—“saturates Ukrainian skies with drones,” while provoking Europeans with lists of “Russophobes”—with Italian President Sergio Mattarella featured prominently. Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip, a daily humanitarian pause has been introduced, from 08:00 to 20:00: it is unclear how long it will last.