WELLINGTON: Australia will recognize a Palestinian state, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday, joining the leaders of France, Britain and Canada in signaling they would do so.
His remarks followed weeks of urging from within his Cabinet and from many in Australia to recognize a Palestinian state and amid growing criticism from officials in his government over suffering in Gaza. Australia’s government has also criticized plans announced in recent days by Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu for a sweeping new military offensive in Gaza.
Albanese told reporters after a Cabinet meeting Monday that Australia’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state will be formalized at the United Nations General Assembly in September. The acknowledgement was “predicated on commitments Australia has received from the Palestinian Authority,” Albanese said.
Those commitments included no role for Hamas in a Palestinian government, demilitarization of Gaza and the holding of elections, he said.
“A two-state solution is humanity’s best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to bring an end to the conflict, suffering and starvation in Gaza,” Albanese said.
Ahead of Albanese’s announcement, Netanyahu on Sunday criticized Australia and other European countries that have moved to recognize a Palestinian state.
“To have European countries and Australia march into that rabbit hole ... this canard, is disappointing and I think it’s actually shameful,” the Israeli leader said.
Nearly 150 of the 193 members of the United Nations have already recognized Palestinian statehood, most of them decades ago. The United States and other Western powers have held off, saying Palestinian statehood should be part of a final agreement resolving the decades-old Middle East conflict.
Recognition announcements are largely symbolic and are rejected by Israel.
A two-state solution would see a state of Palestine created alongside Israel in most or all of the occupied West Bank, the war-ravaged Gaza Strip and annexed east Jerusalem, territories Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war that the Palestinians want for their state.
Albanese dismissed suggestions Monday that the move was solely symbolic.
“This is a practical contribution toward building momentum,” he said. “This is not Australia acting alone.”
In neighboring New Zealand, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Monday that his government “will carefully weigh up its position” on recognizing a Palestinian state before making a formal decision in September.
“New Zealand has been clear for some time that our recognition of a Palestinian state is a matter of when, not if,” Peters said in a statement.
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Australia will recognize a Palestinian state, Prime Minister Albanese says
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Australia will recognize a Palestinian state, Prime Minister Albanese says
- France and Canada last month said it planned to recognize a Palestinian state
- Britain has said it would follow suit unless Israel addresses the humanitarian crisis in Palestine and reaches a ceasefire
A Hong Kong court upholds the convictions of about a dozen activists in national security case
HONG KONG: A Hong Kong court Monday dismissed all appeals arising from the city’s biggest case brought under a Beijing-imposed national security law.
The pro-democracy advocates who lodged the challenges were among 47 activists charged in 2021 with conspiracy to commit subversion for their involvement in an unofficial primary election. The mass prosecution involving some of the best-known activists crushed much of the city’s once-thriving pro-democracy movement that reached a height with massive anti-government protests in 2019.
Forty-five of the defendants were sentenced to between four years and 10 years in 2024, with their punishments drawing criticism from foreign governments and rights groups.
Eleven activists who appealed their convictions lost their bids. They included former lawmakers Leung Kwok-hung, Lam Cheuk-ting, Raymond Chan and Helena Wong.
All appeals over sentences, brought by 10 of them and another activist, were also dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
Lawrence Lau, a pro-democracy former district councilor, was one of two activists acquitted in the case. Judges upheld his acquittal following an appeal from the prosecution.
A primary led to convictions
Riding on the 2019 protests, the pro-democracy camp had been looking to make gains in the 2020 legislative election. The unofficial primary was meant to shortlist pro-democracy candidates for the official election.
During the trial, prosecutors said the activists aimed to paralyze Hong Kong’s government and force the city’s leader to resign by aiming to win a legislative majority and using it to block government budgets indiscriminately.
Judges at the appellate court ruled that the plan was unlawful under the meaning of the security law, saying it was conceived and advocated by legal scholar Benny Tai — whom the lower court described as the mastermind — as a “constitutional mass destruction weapon” for the purpose of toppling the city’s constitutional order.
Critics said the activists’ convictions illustrated how authorities crushed dissent following the 2019 protests. The Beijing and Hong Kong governments insist the national security law was necessary for the city’s stability.
Leung’s wife, Chan Po-ying, also an activist but unrelated to the case, said the ruling was not based on facts, arguing the defendants’ acts were in line with the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law.
“It already presumed these people had intended to subvert the state’s power,” she said.
Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas spokesperson Fernando Cheung said the ruling reflected the grave state of human rights in Hong Kong.
“By failing to overturn these wrongful convictions and sentences today, the court has missed a critical opportunity to correct this mass injustice,” he said.
Some finished serving their terms
The case involved democracy advocates across the spectrum, including Tai, who got a 10-year prison term, and former student leader Joshua Wong, whose sentence was four years and eight months.
Nearly 20 activists in the case have been released from prison over the past year. Among them were former district councilors Jimmy Sham and Lester Shum. Sham and Lee Yue-shun, another acquitted activist, chatted with Lau before Monday’s hearing.
As those who were still in prison left the courtroom, some waved at their families and supporters.
Some residents stayed outside the court building in line since Saturday to secure a seat in the courtroom. Retiree Margaret Chan arrived Monday morning, hoping to show her support to those she considered to be innocent.
Seeing some activists released from prison relieved her. “They have survived it,” she said.
The pro-democracy advocates who lodged the challenges were among 47 activists charged in 2021 with conspiracy to commit subversion for their involvement in an unofficial primary election. The mass prosecution involving some of the best-known activists crushed much of the city’s once-thriving pro-democracy movement that reached a height with massive anti-government protests in 2019.
Forty-five of the defendants were sentenced to between four years and 10 years in 2024, with their punishments drawing criticism from foreign governments and rights groups.
Eleven activists who appealed their convictions lost their bids. They included former lawmakers Leung Kwok-hung, Lam Cheuk-ting, Raymond Chan and Helena Wong.
All appeals over sentences, brought by 10 of them and another activist, were also dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
Lawrence Lau, a pro-democracy former district councilor, was one of two activists acquitted in the case. Judges upheld his acquittal following an appeal from the prosecution.
A primary led to convictions
Riding on the 2019 protests, the pro-democracy camp had been looking to make gains in the 2020 legislative election. The unofficial primary was meant to shortlist pro-democracy candidates for the official election.
During the trial, prosecutors said the activists aimed to paralyze Hong Kong’s government and force the city’s leader to resign by aiming to win a legislative majority and using it to block government budgets indiscriminately.
Judges at the appellate court ruled that the plan was unlawful under the meaning of the security law, saying it was conceived and advocated by legal scholar Benny Tai — whom the lower court described as the mastermind — as a “constitutional mass destruction weapon” for the purpose of toppling the city’s constitutional order.
Critics said the activists’ convictions illustrated how authorities crushed dissent following the 2019 protests. The Beijing and Hong Kong governments insist the national security law was necessary for the city’s stability.
Leung’s wife, Chan Po-ying, also an activist but unrelated to the case, said the ruling was not based on facts, arguing the defendants’ acts were in line with the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law.
“It already presumed these people had intended to subvert the state’s power,” she said.
Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas spokesperson Fernando Cheung said the ruling reflected the grave state of human rights in Hong Kong.
“By failing to overturn these wrongful convictions and sentences today, the court has missed a critical opportunity to correct this mass injustice,” he said.
Some finished serving their terms
The case involved democracy advocates across the spectrum, including Tai, who got a 10-year prison term, and former student leader Joshua Wong, whose sentence was four years and eight months.
Nearly 20 activists in the case have been released from prison over the past year. Among them were former district councilors Jimmy Sham and Lester Shum. Sham and Lee Yue-shun, another acquitted activist, chatted with Lau before Monday’s hearing.
As those who were still in prison left the courtroom, some waved at their families and supporters.
Some residents stayed outside the court building in line since Saturday to secure a seat in the courtroom. Retiree Margaret Chan arrived Monday morning, hoping to show her support to those she considered to be innocent.
Seeing some activists released from prison relieved her. “They have survived it,” she said.
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