Piers Akerman: Australia humiliated on world stage thanks to cowardice of our leaders
Australia’s relationship with the United States is in the toilet but, to be fair, it’s not all Anthony Albanese’s fault – Tony Burke, Penny Wong and Chris Bowen must share the blame, writes Piers Akerman.
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s slavish devotion to extreme Left-wing policies has smashed Australia’s reputation as a middle power on the world stage.
This utterly humiliating degradation of status was highlighted by the massive snub US President Donald Trump delivered when he flew home without bothering to inform Albanese that he wouldn’t keep a scheduled appointment on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in Canada.
True, the Israel-Iran war meant Trump had meatier matters to attend to but Trump did have lengthy phone conversations with Indian PM Narendra Modi and Mexican President Claudia Shienbaum after leaving.
Albanese didn’t rate a call though he has consistently claimed that our ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, has excellent relations with the Trump administration.
Fearing a second snub if he turned up in The Hague Tuesday at the NATO summit, Albanese is sending his deputy, Richard Marles, although Albanese recently said he wants a security and defence partnership with European Union leaders.
Australia’s relationship with its closest ally is in the toilet but, to be fair, it’s not all Albanese’s fault. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Energy Minister Chris Bowen must share the blame. All are more supportive of extremist Islamist governments in the Middle East than of our real friend and fellow democracy, Israel.
The Albanese government has done little to stem the rising tide of anti-Semitism in Australia.
Burke’s department constantly frustrates the visa application process for Israelis and has blocked
the arrival of former Israeli government ministers and opinion makers, most recently author Hillel Fuld, who was to speak at a fundraiser for the charity Magen David Adom, which is dedicated to assisting victims of violence.
Home Affairs officers told Fuld, a US and Israeli citizen, that it feared he would incite hatred “against particular segments of the community, namely the Islamic population” though the charity does not discriminate when it assists the wounded. Burke has a large proportion of Muslims in his Western Sydney electorate and visas are issued with few checks.
Wong has been as bad, refusing to visit the site of Nova Festival where youthful peace activists were attacked by Hamas and Gazans over 18 months ago. Last Sunday, she told the ABC Insiders program she placed a phone call to Tehran in which she displayed the abominable equivalence her government colleagues have shown since coming to office – treating Israel and theocratic authoritarian thugs as if they respected the same moral principles.
Declining to explicitly endorse Israel’s military actions, Wong told the audience there was a need for diplomacy “This is precisely the same message I put to (Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi): that we urge restraint because whatever people’s views about what has occurred to date, what happens tomorrow matters to all peoples in the region.”
Araghchi, whose government bankrolls Hezbollah and Hamas, and is the greatest exporter of global terrorism, must have been wondering who he was speaking to.
It was almost a week later that Wong finally spoke to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Rubio said they agreed to continue to work together closely to commit to a path of peace and ensure that Iran never develops a nuclear weapon. Miss World contestants say much the same thing.
As for Bowen, he reportedly said Australia did not agree with some of the “recent activities” of Israel.
Which activities? Certainly not those endorsed by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz who said “this is the dirty work that Israel is doing for all of us … I have the utmost respect for the … Israeli leadership for having had the courage to do this.”
That’s the sort of support true friends give each other in adversity.
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Originally published as Piers Akerman: Australia humiliated on world stage thanks to cowardice of our leaders
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