John Robson: Only a fool would recognize a Palestinian state that doesn’t exist

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at a United Nations (UN) General Assembly meeting organized by France and Saudi Arabia in support of a two-state solution between Palestine and Israel as world leaders arrive for the 80th session of the UN's General Assembly (UNGA) on September 22, 2025 in New York City. Photo by Spencer Platt /Getty Images

Article content

Among my favourite Solomon Proverbs (14:24) is “the foolishness of fools is folly.” Which brings me to Canadian foreign policy on the anniversary of the October 7 genocidal attack. In a Post interview last week about Israel’s changed political climate, Eylon Levy told Adam Zivo, “You cannot talk about the two-state solution without being laughed out of the room.” And on cue, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Foreign Affairs minister Anita Anand did. Though of course they weren’t laughed out of the room because they’re not in it … and don’t even know it.

Article content

Article content

We’re not meant to blurt out that Canada is governed by dunces lest it call into question the credibility of commentators solemnly dissecting their windbaggery. So when they insist they’re “building reliable infrastructure at a speed and scale not seen in generations” for helping subsidize fixing a curling rink roof, and call it an “investment” because they insist they’re spending less and investing more, the press gallery don’t insist the PM define the difference.

Article content

Article content

Article content

On the Middle East, Carney’s cliché festival included “Canada unequivocally condemns Hamas, which must play no role in the future governance of a demilitarized Palestinian state. Our support for Israel’s right to live in peace and security with its neighbours has been at the core of Canada’s Middle East policy for almost 80 years. We stand steadfastly with the Israeli people in their pursuit of a safe and secure Israel as part of a two-state solution.”

Article content

Meanwhile Anand driveled “Canada will continue working with international partners toward a just and lasting peace, in which Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in security and with dignity. We remain committed to advancing the two-state solution and the diplomatic work needed to sustain it.”

Article content

Article content

Our stale, increasingly tepid and entirely verbal fog about supporting Israel is blown away by David Ben-Gurion’s famous “It doesn’t matter what the goyim say. It matters what the Jews do.” Like clearing out terrorist nests while our politicians squawk and faint. And while he also memorably sneered “OUM shmoum,” OUM being UN in Hebrew, our so-called leaders chatter about “international partners” and “the diplomatic work” as if either were a real thing.

Article content

Carney and Anand are not expressing ideas. They’re displaying thoughts preserved as in amber, pretty, rigid and long dead. What have they to say of Levy’s actual idea that “Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, in the promise that the Palestinians could show what they would peacefully do with territory, and instead of getting Singapore we got nearly 20 years of rocket attacks”?

Article content

I’ll tell you. Nothing. That Israel offered land for peace, got “Itbah al yahud” back, made the deal unilaterally in frustration anyway, and got “Itbah al yahud” anyway, literally did not register, because they are pompous ninnies.