Welcome to a special pop-up edition of Foreign Policy’s Situation Report from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), where we’ll be on the ground in New York City’s Turtle Bay all week to bring you the latest news and views from the gathering.
Here’s what’s on tap for the day: growing international momentum for Palestinian statehood, alarm at the U.N. Security Council over Russian jets in Estonia, and Syria’s new president sharing the stage with a former foe.
‘The Time Has Come’
The top agenda item on Day 1 of UNGA’s high-level week was Palestinian statehood and the war in Gaza. A number of countries, including top allies of Israel such as France and the United Kingdom, are using UNGA as a backdrop to recognize Palestine as a state.
The most anticipated portion of Monday’s proceedings was a two-state solution conference co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia. In an address to the conference, French President Emmanuel Macron was met with a standing ovation when he announced that France was officially recognizing Palestine.
“We must do everything within our power to preserve the very possibility of a two-state solution, Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security,” Macron said. “The time has come. This is why—true to the historic commitment of my country to the Middle East, to peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians—this is why I declare that today, France recognizes the state of Palestine.”
Canada, Australia, and Portugal have also moved to recognize Palestine as a state this week. Other countries are expected to follow suit and join the roughly 150 nations that have already done so.
The recognition of Palestinian statehood, which is largely symbolic as things stand, is not supported by Israel. The United States, Israel’s top ally, is also opposed.
Recognizing Palestinian statehood also does not directly address the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, and the war in the enclave is still raging with no end in sight. Top human rights groups have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza—a conclusion that was also recently reached by a U.N. inquiry. Along these lines, even some who support Palestinian statehood have said the recent push for recognition is too little, too late.
Still, the growing list of countries recognizing Palestine is a direct rebuke of Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza, and proponents such as Macron say that recognition is an important step toward peace. “Some may say it’s too late; others may say it’s too early. But one thing is certain—we can no longer wait,” he said. Macron also said that “nothing justifies the ongoing war in Gaza,” adding that “everything compels us to definitively end it.”
In an address that echoed Macron’s remarks, U.N. chief AntónioGuterres told the conference that recognizing Palestinian statehood will serve as a galvanizing force for a two-state solution. Guterres called the war in Gaza “intolerable” and reiterated calls for a cease-fire, the release of hostages held by Hamas, and unfettered access to humanitarian assistance.
But Israel remains defiant and is continuing to push ahead with a controversial military operation in Gaza City that’s forced an estimated half a million Palestinians to flee.
Israel has also excoriated countries recognizing Palestine, accusing them of appeasing and boosting Hamas. In comments to the press at U.N. headquarters ahead of the two-state solution conference on Monday, Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon said the meeting was “detached from reality” and “shameful.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that there will never be a Palestinian state, and some in his government are pushing to annex parts of the West Bank. Netanyahu said that those recognizing Palestinian statehood are giving a “prize” to terrorism.
Macron rejected this argument in his address on Monday, saying that recognizing Palestinian statehood is a “defeat for Hamas” and “takes nothing away from the rights of the people of Israel.” The French president, who emphasized that his country has never wavered in its support for Israel and its security, said that breaking the cycle of violence requires “recognition of the other.”
On the Button
What should be high on your radar, if it isn’t already.
Russian roulette. Although the U.N.’s focus on Monday afternoon shifted to the two-state solution conference, the 10,002nd meeting of the U.N. Security Council earlier in the day centered on Russia’s actions in Eastern Europe—particularly Friday’s incursion of three Russian fighter jets into Estonia.
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna described the incident as “yet another reckless and flagrant violation of the U.N. Charter and of international law,” illustrating his point by holding up radar images showing the Russian jets inside Estonian airspace as well as photographs of the jets themselves.
“For the first time in 34 years, since Estonia joined the U.N., we were obliged to ask the presidency to convene this meeting in the spirit of preventive diplomacy and in order to immediately stop attempts at further escalation by Russia,” Tsahkna added.
Russia’s incursion into Estonia was the third such incident in recent weeks, with Poland’s downing of multiple Russian drones from its skies with help from NATO jets earlier this month followed a few days later by Romania reporting a Russian drone over its territory.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski addressed part of his remarks directly to the Russian representatives seated in front of him: “Your insane nationalism contains a lust for domination that will not cease until you realize that the age of empires is over and that your empire will not be rebuilt.”
A Russian representative, in his remarks, slammed the accusations as “blatant lies” from “European extras” at the Security Council who were “letting their imaginations run wild regarding the threat from Russia.”
The gathering also provided an opportunity for Mike Waltz to make his first public remarks as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. after his eleventh-hour Senate confirmation on Friday. Waltz said Washington “will defend every inch of NATO territory” and urged Russia to “urgently stop such dangerous behavior.”
A troubling backdrop. The question of whether the United States is descending into authoritarianism is undoubtedly on the minds of many attendees this year as the country contends with the controversial policies and actions of Trump 2.0. UNGA 80 is occurring against the backdrop of political violence in the United States as well as widespread concerns over issues ranging from immigration enforcement to free speech.
At a press conference on Monday, SitRep asked U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric whether democratic backsliding in the United States, the host of UNGA and U.N. headquarters, is a concern for U.N. chief Guterres.
“The secretary-general has been vocal in expressing his concern at the wrong direction in which, globally, issues having to do with human rights [and] freedom of the press have been going,” Dujarric said, adding that Guterres has recently emphasized that the “U.N. Charter [and] the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are not an à la carte menu” and “need to be taken as a whole” by every member state.
Hot Mic
Israel’s airstrike on Doha, Qatar, earlier this month was “a grave attack on sovereignty” as well as “the concept of mediation” and “peace,” Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari told FP editor in chief Ravi Agrawal at the Concordia Summit in New York on Monday. “Here in New York, there will be direct meetings with President Trump to talk about the dangers of an unhinged leadership taking such a unilateral decision in our region, throwing stability and the prosperity of the Middle East … into chaos,” Ansari added.
What We’re Watching on Tuesday
9 a.m. UNGA general debate begins; Trump is scheduled to speak second after Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
1 p.m. U.N. Security Council meeting on the Middle East, “including the Palestinian question.”
4 p.m. U.N. Security Council meeting on Ukraine.
By the Numbers
Dujarric, the spokesperson for U.N. chief Guterres, said that UNGA 80 is expecting 193 delegations, including 89 heads of state, 43 heads of governments, one crown prince, and five vice presidents. He also said that around 1,642 bilateral meetings have been scheduled in the lobby of the General Assembly building.
Quote of the Day
“We went from war to discourse.”
—Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to retired U.S. Gen. David Petraeus, who was commanding the U.S. forces in Iraq that imprisoned Sharaa when he was fighting for al Qaeda there. Sharaa, the first Syrian president to attend UNGA in six decades, was interviewed by Petraeus onstage at the Concordia Summit and also met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday.
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