Why they're "recognizing" a Palestinian state (Issue #25)

Yes, it's performative. So what's the performance, exactly?

Author

Chris Musei-Sequeira
September 24, 2025

This illustration shows a flag with a black bar at the top, a white bar in the middle, and a green bar at the bottom. All three bars are of the same height. At the left of the flag is a quarter-slice of watermelon, in the colors of red, white, and green with black seeds.

Recognizing a Palestinian state is a good thing, and it does matter. As of 22 September, according to the BBC, France has joined the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia in recognizing a Palestinian state. But what does recognition even mean? This Palestinian state has “no internationally agreed boundaries, no capital and no army.” It really doesn't seem like much of a “state” at all.

So the whole thing's performative, isn't it?

Yes, I think it is performative. And that raises a question: If recognition of a Palestinian state is performative, then what is the performance?

Here's how I would put it in corporate terms: The bullsh!t flows downhill. Corporate management loves to blame employees for messing things up, even if management is really to blame. We are seeing so-called "Western" countries begin to blame Israel for everything happening in Gaza, even while those countries continue to provide money and arms. The conversation is moving away from, “Israel has a right to defend herself,” toward, “Israel has a right to defend herself, but not like that.” Such a change may not seem like progress, but it shows us the following: Western states are now attempting to absolve themselves of responsibility for the atrocities committed by the state of Israel.

What’s happening is way bigger than just blaming Netanyahu for what's happening in Gaza. Recognition of a Palestinian state doesn’t just put the blame on Israel’s leaders; it’s a way of blaming Israel itself. It’s corporate management deciding that an employee has gone “rogue”—the problem is not just the employee’s decisions, but is instead the employee’s existence. And before management decides to fire an employee for cause, it must first build a record of justification for termination… even as it continues to provide a salary for that employee. You know that Human Resources saying: "document, document, document!"

A corporation thinks in terms of costs and benefits. It hires an employee because the benefit is intended to outweigh the cost of paying that employee. When the cost begins to outweigh the benefit, it's time for termination… even when the problem is the corporation itself. The logic of empire is no different.

We are watching Israel get fired from Western empire, in real time, so that the leaders of empire can absolve themselves. That is the performance. The same logic that led to Israel’s creation is now leading to its demise. Ironic? No, not at all. It’s exactly how empire operates.

You'll note that I haven't said anything about the United States of America, a major entity that currently refuses to recognize a Palestinian state. But my analysis is similar to what I said above: as the UK and Canada and Australia and France recognize a Palestinian state, they push blame also onto the United States of America. They say to the world: “they’re the problem; not us.”

United States investment in Israel is for profit. This is why I vehemently disagree with the statement, “we live in the United States of Israel.” (Yes, I’m aware of the “50 States One Israel” conference that just ended.) Remember that so-called "aid" to Israel mainly comes back to the United States private sector in the form of weapons purchases, by the billions of dollars every year. So for the time being, I suppose USA investment in Israel is still profitable. But I am telling you right now: there will be a day when the cost becomes greater than the benefit. And when that happens, even the United States will be telling Israel: “you’re fired.”

And that firing will be thanks to you: the people speaking up for Palestine; the people protesting in the streets; the dock workers refusing to handle Israeli military cargo; the flotillas like the Samud flotilla happening right now, and so much more. Plus, I don't even need to discuss the physical “war” of attrition happening on the ground.

Your voice matters; your efforts matter. The recognition of a Palestinian state proves it. Even though recognition is a performance, remember what the performance is for.

Now let’s start imagining a post-Israel future.

(This article is adapted from my video channel on TikTok and YouTube.)

Do you want issues like this in your email inbox? Subscribe using the button below.

Know someone who needs to see this issue? Copy the link from your browser and send it to them.

My name is Chris Musei-Sequeira, and I use he/him pronouns. My mother was born in Trinidad and Tobago as a descendant of African slaves brought to the islands during the time of European colonization. She came to the United States of America (USA) at the age of 10. My father is Goan and was born in India, in Mumbai, and raised Catholic and English-speaking. He came to the USA for his graduate studies, where he met my mother.

My sister and I were born in the USA and lived a middle-class life in the suburbs of multiple American cities. I studied aeronautical engineering and technology policy in university, then worked at the Federal Aviation Administration and as an aviation consultant. I've lived in cities up and down the USA East Coast since the age of 18; I now reside in Queens, New York with my wife.

I thank Heather Luna and Lavinia Muth for showing me the importance of publicly expressing our positions. Because of our positions, all of us are very familiar with some aspects of the world while having no idea of other aspects. Positionality expresses how our individual positions affect our relationships with other people and with the world as a whole.

Image source: File:Palestine Watermelon Flag.svg - Wikimedia Commons. (2023, December 17). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palestine_Watermelon_Flag.svg