I guess we are meant to say thank you?
So, thank you. But for what, exactly?
When I first heard our Prime Minister announce he would consider recognising Palestine, it barely registered. Not because I did not care, but because I was already drowning in grief. That same day, five Al Jazeera staff, including 28-year-old Anas El Sharif, were killed by Israel in Gaza. I was staring at images of charred bodies being pulled from flames. Image after image. Body after body. Children emaciated and starving as Israel blocks aid. People being shot by Israeli Occupation Forces while lining up for food. Children with amputations. Schools and hospitals reduced to rubble.
Then I read another report confirming that over 200 journalists have been targeted and killed since October 2023. Sorry if I am not jumping for joy at the idea that this colony might finally decide to recognise our humanity. And far too late. Why now? Why twenty-two months into what Amnesty International, the United Nations Special Rapporteur and Israeli human rights group B’Tselem have rightly called a genocide? Why did Labor vote against recognition fifteen months ago, even sanctioning Fatima Payman when she crossed the floor to support it with the Greens? Pathetic. Performative. Is this government waiting until there is almost no Palestine left to recognise? Waiting until the UK, France and Canada have already declared their intentions so it is politically safe to follow?
We do not need symbolic gestures, donations or hollow words. We need sanctions, an arms embargo, and the political courage to hold Israel accountable.
Palestinians do not care for your ‘recognition’. We are too busy grieving the destruction of our homeland. The deaths of our people. Anas’ life mattered. He was not just a statistic. He was a father. A son. A man who wanted to tell stories and document the truth, the way journalists are supposed to.
Al Jazeera reports Anas was killed in what appears to be a targeted Israeli strike on the journalist tent at Shifa Hospital. That tent had already been bombed before. This was not an accident. It was a message that Palestinian journalists can be killed without consequence. For twenty-two months now, Israel has killed members of the press in Gaza with complete impunity, and the world has done nothing. Not one thing.
So when I hear talk of recognition, forgive me if I am not rushing to wave the Australian flag. Right now, recognition is the political equivalent of thoughts and prayers. Something you say to look like you care while avoiding the actions that would actually make a difference.
If our government was serious about standing with Palestinians, they would be calling for sanctions. They would halt all sales of weapons and weapons parts to Israel. They would lead the charge for a full arms embargo. They would hold war criminals accountable instead of shaking their hands. We do not want your donations. We want an end to your complicity. Recognition does not stop bombs from falling from the sky. It does not keep the next Anas alive. It does not save the next Hind Rajab or Australian aid worker, Zomi Frankom, killed by Israel, alive.
For seventy-seven years, Palestinians have watched our land stolen piece by piece. We have seen our olive trees, some older than Australia itself, burned to the ground. We have had our homes bulldozed, our water stolen, our freedom of movement stripped away. We have been imprisoned without charge. Our families and our culture have been scattered and displaced across the globe. And through all of it, we have been told to be grateful for the crumbs the West throws us.
Here is the truth. As of March 2025, 147 of the 193 UN member states already recognise Palestine. That is more than 75 percent of the world. We have had observer state status at the UN since November 2012. The only reason we are not a full member is because the United States, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has used its veto to block us again and again. And Again.
So when Australia floats the idea of recognising Palestine, I cannot help but feel numb. It means nothing. It is not brave. It is certainly not enough. Not enough when our people are being slaughtered. Recognition is symbolic and symbolism does not save lives.
And yet, we are expected to perform gratitude. To smile politely and say finally, as if this gesture somehow offsets decades of complicity. But Palestine’s existence does not depend on whether Australia writes it down on a piece of paper.
Palestine exists. We exist. Our culture, our music, our food, our stories, our resistance. All of it exists whether or not Western powers choose to acknowledge it. No government, no prime minister, no UN resolution can erase the truth that has been lived by generations of Palestinians.
Australia is not the gatekeeper of our humanity. We do not need their approval or anyone else’s to know who we are.
So, thank you, I guess, but also, no thank you. If this recognition is not backed by action, it is not wanted. If it is not accompanied by sanctions, embargoes, and an end to military support for Israel, it is meaningless. If it does not stop the killing, it is just another distraction.
You can stamp papers, pass motions, and make speeches. But we have always existed.
And we will continue to exist, with or without your recognition.
From the river the sea, always was, always will be. Free Palestine.
This Palestinian-Australian author is known to PEDESTRIAN.TV but has chosen to stay anonymous.
Lead photo: Getty.
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