The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on May 10 to advance the Palestinian Authority’s request for “Palestine” to become the international body’s 194th member. European Union states and Australia caved to their own domestic array of students, labor activists, Arab and Muslim constituencies, and virtue-signaling politicians to push for recognition of a Palestinian state. They were wrong to do so, no matter what antisemitic mobs in Marseille, Manchester, or Melbourne may think.  

Recognizing “Palestine” as an independent state is a mistake for five reasons. First, promoting the Palestinians at the U.N. betrays diplomacy. The core of the Oslo Accords was a compromise: formation of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in exchange for recognition of Israel and renunciation of terrorism.