As San Marino joins European nations in rewarding terror with ‘statehood,’ Netanyahu warns the UN that recognizing a Palestinian state legitimizes Hamas’s massacres and endangers Israel’s survival.
At the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday, San Marino — a microstate of just 34,000 residents — announced it is officially recognizing a so-called Palestinian state.
Foreign Secretary Luca Beccari told the assembly: “San Marino officially recognizes the State of Palestine as a sovereign and independent state, within secure and internationally recognized borders, in line with the resolutions of the United Nations.” He added that Hamas’s October 7 atrocities must be condemned and hostages freed, while insisting that Palestinian statehood is an “inalienable right.”
San Marino now joins a growing list of nations — including Britain, Canada, Australia, Portugal, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Monaco, and Malta — that in the past week have lined up to grant recognition, even as Hamas continues holding hostages and raining rockets on Israeli civilians.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing the UN on Friday, fiercely condemned these governments for what he called “a mark of shame.” He reminded the world that Palestinian society overwhelmingly celebrated the October 7 massacre, just as it celebrated 9/11. “Nearly 90% of Palestinians supported the October 7th attack. They celebrated, they threw candies,” Netanyahu said. “And the message they get is clear: murdering Jews pays off.”
Netanyahu warned that the world is being misled. “You support a Palestinian state next to Israel, but the problem is that they don’t want that. They want a Palestinian state instead of Israel. Every time they were offered a state, they only attacked us again.”
With defiance, he declared: “We will not allow the establishment of a terrorist state just because you don’t have the guts to recognize reality. On behalf of the people of Israel, over 90% of whom reject a Palestinian state — we stand firm. Israel’s future will not be dictated by appeasement of terror.”
San Marino’s recognition may be symbolic, but Israel’s message is unmistakable: the Jewish state will never surrender its security or its existence to international pressure.
