Ottawa — Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced that Canada will formally recognize the State of Palestine during the 80th United Nations General Assembly session in September 2025, contingent on specific political and institutional reforms by the Palestinian Authority.
In an official statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office on Tuesday, Carney laid out Canada’s plan to endorse Palestinian statehood, marking a dramatic pivot from Ottawa’s traditionally tepid support for Palestinian aspirations. Framed as part of a renewed commitment to international law and a just two-state solution, the move has stunned analysts and irked Israel, which sees the gesture as a reward for what it calls “terrorist aggression” from Gaza-based groups.
While Canada has long expressed rhetorical support for a two-state framework, this announcement marks the first formal step toward diplomatic recognition, aligning Ottawa with a growing bloc of Western powers moving to publicly back Palestinian statehood amid escalating global condemnation of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Under the conditions outlined by Carney, Canada’s recognition will be executed only if the Palestinian Authority undertakes sweeping internal reforms. These include the organization of internationally monitored general elections in 2026 with no participation by Hamas, as well as a clear commitment to the demilitarization of any future Palestinian state. The plan is being described as “recognition with responsibility,” with Canadian officials emphasizing their goal is to strengthen democratic governance and stability in the Palestinian territories.
Israeli leaders have swiftly condemned Canada’s initiative. Israel’s Foreign Ministry issued a blistering rebuke, accusing Ottawa of “undermining the peace process” and “emboldening extremism.” The Israeli government maintains that such recognition prematurely legitimizes a government it considers fractured, illegitimate, and hostile. Carney, however, rejected that criticism, arguing that the status quo of occupation, siege, and stagnation is not sustainable and that progress cannot remain hostage to perpetual Israeli intransigence.
Predictably, Washington responded with thinly veiled disapproval. A senior US State Department official warned that Canada’s move “complicates” multilateral diplomatic efforts led by President Donald Trump, who has maintained staunch support for Israel throughout the Genocide in Gaza. Trump’s administration has reportedly threatened to revisit ongoing bilateral trade talks with Canada in light of what it sees as a “destabilizing” move by a fellow G7 member.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas praised Canada’s announcement as “an important first step toward justice,” while signaling openness to meeting the reform conditions stipulated by Ottawa. However, critics within the region and diaspora communities remain skeptical that the Palestinian Authority — long plagued by accusations of authoritarianism, corruption, and illegitimacy — can deliver on the democratic and institutional benchmarks demanded by Canada.
In Europe, Canada’s decision follows similar pledges by France, the UK, and Malta, all of which plan to formally recognize Palestine at the same UN gathering in September. The concerted diplomatic push is seen by analysts as a coordinated Western rebuke of Israel’s catastrophic war strategy in Gaza and an acknowledgment of the political and humanitarian urgency facing the region.
The United Nations and a coalition of human rights groups have called the Genocide in Gaza “the most prolonged mass starvation crisis in modern history,” urging world leaders to leverage diplomatic recognition of Palestine as a pressure tactic against Israeli expansionism. Ottawa’s move, though wrapped in conditionality, is expected to embolden the global south and several Latin American countries that have long criticized Canada’s alignment with U.S.-Israeli policy.
According to Fox News, Prime Minister Carney’s office clarified that recognition would be withheld unless “concrete and irreversible steps” toward institutional reform are undertaken by the Palestinian Authority. In the same report, Israeli officials slammed Carney’s position as “morally bankrupt” and “geopolitically naïve.”
If implemented, Canada’s recognition would mark a diplomatic rupture with the United States and signal a recalibration of Canada’s foreign policy posture — no longer a quiet shadow to American interests but a potentially assertive actor seeking to restore its credibility on the global stage.
