The opening summit of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is taking place in a different atmosphere than in previous years due to the intense Palestinian agenda. Israel has launched an operation to occupy Gaza completely, taking the massacre and genocide that have been going on for nearly two years to a new level. The High-Level International Conference titled "Finding a Solution to the Palestinian Issue and Implementing the Two-State Solution,” organized at the UNGA through a joint initiative by France and Saudi Arabia, has raised expectations that the U.N. will play a more effective role in stopping the ongoing genocide in Gaza and achieving a two-state solution.

Expectations have risen following reports that some Western countries, previously supportive of Israel and therefore reluctant to recognize Palestine, are now preparing to do so. Which countries have made such announcements, and what is the significance of their decisions?

Countries to recognize Palestine

Powerful Western nations like the United Kingdom, France and Canada had already announced their intention to recognize the state of Palestine during the summit officially. Later statements suggested that countries including Portugal, Australia, Malta, Luxembourg, Belgium, San Marino, Monaco and Andorra would also join, bringing the total to 10 new recognitions and raising the number of U.N. member states recognizing Palestine to 157.

Despite the threatening statements made by Israel and the U.S. to prevent this development and claims that recognizing Palestine would "reward terrorism” and "harm the interests of the State of Israel,” it happened just as expected. Even before the summit began, on Sept. 21, 2025, the U.K., Canada and Australia announced that they had officially recognized Palestine. Shortly thereafter, on Sept. 22, France, Portugal, Belgium, Malta, Monaco and Luxembourg announced their recognition of Palestine.

With these latest decisions, the number of countries recognizing Palestine in the 193-member U.N. has approached the number of countries recognizing Israel. It is predicted that in the coming days, with new recognition announcements, the number of countries recognizing Palestine will exceed the number of countries recognizing Israel.

Importance of decisions

First and foremost, it is worth noting that all of these recent recognition decisions have come from countries in the Western camp that have, in one way or another, supported Israel until now. This situation is highly significant in terms of Israel beginning to lose its privileged status in the eyes of Western countries. Since its establishment, whatever Israel has done, it has not been criticized by these countries; on the contrary, it has been supported despite all kinds of lawlessness.

Furthermore, with the announcement of the U.K. and France, all permanent members of the U.N. Security Council except the U.S. have now recognized Palestine. In contrast, the recognition of Palestine by Canada and Australia, two key members of both the Western camp and the Commonwealth, is a highly significant development. Moreover, both countries had fervently supported Israel in the past, and it was unimaginable that one day they would criticize Israel and recognize Palestine.

However, the true significance of these recognitions lies in the fact that they were made despite the countries’ close alliance with the U.S., which had previously warned it would impose sanctions on any state recognizing Palestine. This raises the question of how Washington will respond, particularly toward key allies such as the U.K. and France. If the U.S. follows through with sanctions, it will have chosen a country like Israel that serves no regional interests of the U.S., and even forces them to give away billions of dollars of American taxpayers' money each year without compensation (as grants) to support its aggressive policies in the region, thereby losing two important allies like Britain and France.

One of the most striking aspects of the decisions is that all these countries have declared their commitment to the U.N.'s two-state solution plan. As will be recalled, Israel no longer merely speaks of occupying Gaza, but also states that it will never allow a Palestinian state to exist. Therefore, these countries must also assume responsibility for securing the Palestinian territories specified in the two-state solution plan and for stopping the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Otherwise, it should not be forgotten that their decisions to recognize Palestine will be meaningless, and the credibility of the countries in question will be called into question.

What do decisions offer?

The fact that Western countries have recognized Palestine shows, first and foremost, that Israel has lost its rhetorical superiority in these countries. In other words, despite Israel's occupation since 1948 and its genocidal policies, particularly since Oct. 7, these countries believed Israel's perception operations and the lies it served up, thinking that Israel was acting in legitimate self-defense in Gaza and therefore not committing genocide. This meant they thus refrained from recognizing Palestine. They have now changed their position.

The growing support for the Palestinian state, which has so far been unable to become a permanent member of the U.N. due to the U.S. veto in the Security Council, will force the U.S. to reconsider its decision. Ultimately, the U.S. will abandon its stubborn stance and pave the way for an independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital and based on the 1967 borders, to become a permanent member of the U.N.

Although Israel is a rogue state that disregards rules, if Palestine becomes a permanent member of the U.N., it will lose the arbitrariness it currently enjoys in implementing its policies of occupation, violation and genocide. Not only will it lose its current comfort, but it will also be forced to account for the crimes it has committed to date.

Israel believed it had won on the ground by destroying Gaza and killing more than 65,000 people in the aftermath of Oct. 7. However, following these recognition decisions, it became clear that Israel had significantly lost its dominance in the Western world. It became impossible for Israel, having lost Western support, to continue its current regional policy.

As a result, the decision to recognize Palestine, announced on the sidelines of the opening summit of the 80th session of the U.N. General Assembly, has had a game-changing effect. These steps will initiate a process against Israel, similar to the isolation of South Africa's apartheid regime and will ultimately force Israel to abandon its current policy of genocide.

The winner of this process will undoubtedly be Palestine. As a result of the heavy price it has paid so far, the Palestinian people will achieve their own independent state and continue to live and take root in this region despite Israel.