‘How can I do better?’ Israeli ambassador’s candid confession

Amir Maimon is no stranger to diplomatic challenges.

Israel’s ambassador to Australia began his foreign service career in Ethiopia in the early 1990s, when the sitting government in Addis Ababa was on the verge of being toppled by a coalition of left-wing rebel groups.

Israeli ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon says he wants to do more to explain Israel’s position in the Middle East.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Maimon, a retired lieutenant colonel who served for 14 years in the Israeli military’s paratrooper unit, used his experience to co-ordinate the daring airlift of 14,325 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in less than two days.

The secret mission, known as Operation Solomon, involved cramming more than 1000 people onto a single aeroplane with its seats removed, a world record that remains intact today.

Maimon went on to hold senior diplomatic postings in London, Canada, Turkey and Washington before serving as Israel’s first ambassador to Lithuania.

He arrived in Canberra as Israeli ambassador in January 2022 on a mission to refocus the relationship from the conflict with Palestine towards trade, defence and technological co-operation.

It was not to be.

The following October, Hamas militants stormed across the border from Gaza, killing an estimated 1200 Israelis and taking about 250 people hostage. As Israel launched a ferocious campaign to dismantle Hamas’ military capability – at a devastating cost to civilians in Gaza – the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was again dominating global headlines.

Maimon spoke to the National Press Club after the October 7 attacks, but he has maintained a low public profile, granting only occasional interviews and preferring to engage directly through meetings with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and other senior government figures.

However, with a year remaining of his posting in Canberra, Maimon knows he must do more to tell Israel’s side of the story to the Australian public and stop a once-close bilateral relationship from spinning out of control. Domestically, the war in Gaza has strained social cohesion, with Jewish Australians startled by a surge of antisemitic attacks, and other Australians aghast at the civilian death toll in Gaza.

“I feel a bit sorry and sad that the discussion about the conflict dominates the discussion,” he said in an extended interview with this masthead at his Canberra residence during Hanukkah, the sacred Jewish holiday that ended on Thursday.

He is on a mission to use the rest of his tenure, he said, “to bring Australians to a better understanding of what Israel is all about”, including its status as a modern technology pioneer.

While he remains a forthright advocate for his nation, Maimon used the interview to strike a conciliatory tone, expressing disappointment but not anger at the Albanese government’s shift away from Israel at the United Nations. He previously sought to play down tensions between Israel and Australia at a rare December press conference – a day before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used a lacerating social media post to accuse the government of encouraging antisemitism with its “extreme anti-Israel” positions.

Asked whether the government could have done more to crack down on rising antisemitism before the arson attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne in December, Maimon said: “I always believe that we can do better. I’m always asking, ‘How can I do better?’ And I believe that, yes of course, here in Australia, many things could have been done in a different way. But now it’s not about the past, it’s about the future.”

Maimon spoke in personal terms, not just as a diplomat but as a worried grandfather whose grandson has been called up to serve with the Israeli military.

“I’m worried that I will get the wrong telephone call,” he said. “This is insane, and this is something that I’m not sure that the average Australian understands.”

Maimon says he has struggled to understand Australian alarm at the prospect of a Chinese military base in the Pacific, when Israeli citizens face regular rocket and missile attacks from adversaries such as Iran and proxies such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

“As a parent, I feel a personal failure that I failed to provide my children with a more secure environment,” he said as his media adviser’s phone lit up with another Israeli air raid warning.

He is insistent that Australians should blame listed terror group Hamas – not Israel – for the estimated 45,000 deaths in Gaza.

While clearly unimpressed by Wong’s efforts to create momentum towards a two-state solution before the war is over, Maimon said he accepts that a Labor government will not always vote in line with Israel at the United Nations.

“I’m realistic, I’m an experienced diplomat and I understand that it will not always be possible to get 100 per cent of what I’m wishing for,” he said.

“Sometimes I will have to leave with the 80-85 per cent I know I can get.”

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.