Four Countries Recognize Palestinian State
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Top of the Agenda
Australia, Canada, Portugal, and the United Kingdom (UK) recognized Palestinian statehood yesterday, with more countries expected to do so today ahead of the UN General Assembly. The four Western countries called for peace and a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority welcomed the move, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a Palestinian state “will not happen” and that those endorsing Palestinian statehood following the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel were rewarding terrorism.
What comes next: French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are hosting a conference in New York today on a two-state solution. Israel and the United States do not plan to attend. Netanyahu—who is due to speak at the UN on Friday and meet with U.S. President Donald Trump this week—said that Israel would announce its official response to recognition in the coming days. Several ministers in Netanyahu’s government called for Israel to annex parts of the West Bank in response to the new wave of Palestinian recognition.
The context: The announcements mark a diplomatic shift for several Western countries who have historically aligned with Israel and had been holdouts as more than 140 countries globally already recognized Palestinian statehood. Yet fragmented Palestinian leadership along with firm Israeli opposition make Palestinian statehood almost impossible at present, analysts say, since diplomatic pressure is unlikely to change the military situation on the ground.
Despite those obstacles, the countries newly pledging recognition have characterized their moves as a repudiation of Israel’s continued war in Gaza. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that Israel’s “increasing bombardment of Gaza, the offensive of recent weeks, the starvation, and the devastation are utterly intolerable.” He also condemned Hamas as “a brutal terror organization.”
“The British, French, and Canadian positions are part of growing international support for Palestine…But in the most important place—Israel—the trend lines run the other way. Support for a two-state solution has diminished, and, as a result, the state that the UK, France, and Canada want to recognize cannot come into existence. Israel holds all the cards.” —CFR expert Steven A. Cook, Foreign Policy
Across the Globe
New fee for H1-B visas. The United States will introduce a new $100,000 fee to apply for an H1-B visa, an employer-sponsored nonimmigrant visa for highly skilled foreign workers, Trump announced Friday. More than 141,000 new H1-B visas were issued last year. Trump said the policy was designed so that firms would hire more U.S. workers. Separately, Trump signed an executive order Friday allowing some individuals who pay $1 million to get a U.S. immigrant visa.
U.S. lawmakers in China. A bipartisan group of U.S. House representatives met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and separately with Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun yesterday, kicking off the first such visit since 2019. Rep. Adam Smith (D), who is leading the delegation, said the group was exploring ways to “peacefully coexist” with China. Their trip follows Trump’s call with President Xi Jinping Friday, after which Trump said he plans to visit China next year and that the two countries had reached a deal on the sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations.
Russian jets in Estonia. NATO scheduled consultations for tomorrow after Estonia reported Friday that three Russian fighter jets had violated its airspace. Moscow said that the planes were in neutral air. The incident comes after Russian drones were reported in Polish and Romanian airspace earlier this month.
Third strike in Caribbean. The U.S. military killed three people on a boat that Trump claimed was carrying drugs in the Caribbean, he wrote on social media Friday. He has announced fourteen such deaths in two similar strikes in recent weeks. Last week, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro accused Washington of trying to “intimidate and seek regime change.”
Afghan air base in focus. The Taliban yesterday rejected a U.S. bid to regain control of Bagram Air Base after Trump floated the idea to reporters and on social media in recent days. The Taliban took control of the base following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
Kenya data center delayed. A geothermal-powered data center backed by U.S. firm Microsoft and Emirati firm G42—announced last year as a U.S. response to Chinese tech inroads in Africa—has yet to break ground, mere months before it was set to open in early 2026, Semafor reported. Microsoft and G42 did not comment on the delay, while a White House spokesperson said the Trump administration is committed to cementing U.S. dominance in artificial intelligence “at home and abroad.”
Congo’s cobalt controls. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the world’s largest cobalt producer, announced that it will replace its total ban on cobalt exports with a system of limited export quotas, beginning on October 16. Cobalt is a key material in electric vehicle batteries and other advanced tech. The DRC imposed the ban in February to address a supply glut that was driving down prices.
Cyberattack at European airports. The European Union (EU) cybersecurity agency said today that a ransomware attack was behind failures in flight check-in and boarding software that has delayed flights at multiple European airports since Friday. The EU agency did not name an alleged attacker. A U.S. firm, Collins Aerospace, provided the software and said today that it was finalizing software updates.