How countries voted on Palestine's UN membership bid in May 2024

How did each side argue its case?

The vote came seven months into the war in Gaza, which followed the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The United Arab Emirates, introducing the draft for the Arab Group, cited Article 4 of the Charter and a 1948 opinion of the International Court of Justice on admitting members. Palestine's permanent observer Riyad Mansour said Palestine's right to membership "cannot be subject to an Israeli veto." He said he had never stood at the rostrum "for a more significant vote." "A vote in favour is a vote for Palestinian existence," he said. "It is not against any State."

Israel's ambassador Gilad Erdan said the Assembly was "circumventing the Security Council" in violation of the Charter and would "advance the establishment of a Palestinian terror State." He held up an image of Hamas's Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar as "the future outcome of today's vote." At the end of his speech he put a copy of the UN Charter into a small handheld shredder and said "You are shredding the UN Charter with your own hands."

United States deputy ambassador Robert Wood said statehood "will come only from a process that involves direct negotiations between the parties" and that another Council vote would produce "a similar outcome." US laws from 1990 and 1994 bar US funding for UN bodies that give the PLO "the same standing as member states." Wood did not cite them but said the Palestinian mission "does not have the same standing as a Member State after this vote."

Why did the UK, Germany and Canada abstain?

Most abstentions came from Europe: 19 of the 25. The United Kingdom's ambassador Barbara Woodward said the first step was "resolving the immediate crisis in Gaza." Germany said that if immediate full membership ended all the suffering it would have voted yes. Canada's ambassador Bob Rae said the text "goes too far" in treating statehood as achieved rather than as an aspiration. He also pointed to Hamas's control of Gaza. Czechia and Hungary voted no, saying the Assembly was going around the Security Council's role in admitting members.

Compared with the 2012 vote on observer status, some countries moved toward Palestine: Australia from abstaining to yes and Canada from no to abstaining. Australia said it "no longer accepts that recognition can come only at the end of the peace process." Others moved away: Italy, Sweden and Finland from yes to abstaining, Hungary from abstaining to no and Argentina from yes to no. Several yes voters, including Australia and South Korea, said their vote was not recognition of Palestine as a state.

In September 2025, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia recognized the State of Palestine. By late September 2025, at least 157 of 193 UN members had done so (Al Jazeera). Germany, Italy and Japan had not.