‘Shameless’: Peak Jewish group says Labor betrayed Israel at UN

Labor’s relationship with Israel has sunk to new lows, with the nation’s peak Jewish group declaring Australia’s longstanding bipartisan support for Israel has essentially vanished after the Albanese government ditched a two-decades-old stance on the two-state solution.

The government’s controversial United Nations vote on Wednesday morning was applauded by Palestinian advocates as it was revealed that Australia’s top diplomat in Israel was summoned for a rare dressing down by Israel’s foreign minister, furious about the decision to deny entry to prominent former justice minister Ayelet Shaked.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia was trying to create momentum towards a two-state solution. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

As revealed by this masthead on Tuesday night, the government angered Israel by voting in favour of a United Nations resolution demanding Israel end its presence in the occupied Palestinian territories as soon as possible and calling for the evacuation of all settlers from the West Bank and Gaza.

Australia had voted against similar motions or abstained since 2001, making the shift a significant departure from its previous policy position.

“This is a shameless pursuit of a domestic political agenda that puts Labor’s aspirations in vulnerable seats ahead of historic and principled support for a democratic ally,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion said.

He said the UN vote “makes a mockery” of Labor’s pledge to the council in a pre-election policy questionnaire to “never play domestic politics with Australia’s foreign relations”.

Labor described itself as “a strong supporter of the state of Israel and that will never change” in the same questionnaire.

“Few people in the Jewish community or wider community would see Labor as having fulfilled that commitment,” Aghion said.

“For some time now, this government has been chipping away at bipartisan support for Israel and a negotiated end to the conflict.

“After this latest significant shift, there is very little left.”

With Israel’s war in Gaza likely to feature prominently in the next federal election, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said that the government had “abandoned Israel” for electoral reasons.

“The Albanese government is chasing Greens votes and they’ve been prepared to sacrifice the wellbeing of the Jewish community here in Australia to do so,” he said.

The government pointed out it had acted in line with the vast majority of the international community given 157 nations voted in favour of the resolution, seven abstained and just eight voted against it, including Israel and the United States.

The seven-page resolution called for a conference in New York next year to “urgently chart an irreversible pathway towards the peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine and the implementation of the two-state solution”.

A spokesperson for Foreign Minister Penny Wong said: “As a constructive middle power, Australia approaches UN resolutions to try to achieve the best outcomes we can.

“We don’t always get everything we want. But if, on balance, we believe the resolution will contribute to peace and a two-state solution, we will vote for it.”

Australia’s UN ambassador James Larsen said Australia had reverted to its pre-2001 stance because the two-state solution remained the “only hope of breaking the endless cycle of violence, the only hope to see a secure and prosperous future for both peoples”.

Australia Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni praised the government for “aligning our nation with the overwhelming majority of the world in standing up for Palestinian justice and human rights, and accountability for Israel”.

He called on the government to go further by imposing sanctions on Israel and a two-way arms embargo.

Colin Rubenstein, executive director of the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, blasted the government for voting in favour of a resolution he called “woefully one-sided”.

Credit: Matt Golding

“By promising the Palestinians everything they want without imposing any obligations on them whatsoever, this resolution is simply a recipe for further conflict, not peace,” he said.

Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said: “These resolutions won’t bring about peace, all they do is reward terrorism.”

The progressive New Israel Fund Australia welcomed Australia’s vote, saying: “We have seen the consequences of the status quo laid bare, and they are: human misery, loss of life, unimaginable suffering.”

Pro-Israel groups were already furious about the government for breaking from Israel on several UN votes and denying a visa last month to Shaked, a right-wing politician who left the Israeli parliament in 2022 and intended to travel to Australia for an event organised by the Australia Israel and Jewish Affairs Council.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called in Australia’s ambassador Ralph King for an official reprimand on Monday, saying: “The decision prohibiting minister Shaked from visiting Australia was based on baseless blood libels spread by the pro-Palestinian lobby in Australia, and it is a shame that a friendly country like Australia chose to base it on them instead of the long-standing friendship between the countries.”

Former Israeli interior and justice minister Ayelet Shaked was denied a visa to travel to Australia.Credit: AP

The term “blood libel” originated in the Middle Ages, when false claims that Jews had engaged in ritualised murder were used to justify antisemitic violence.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said his department refused Shaked’s visa because of fears she would “seriously undermine social cohesion” while in Australia.

“Ms Shaked has said that all the Palestinians should leave Gaza. If somebody wanted to come here and had previously said that they had nominated specific cities in Israel and said they should be completely levelled, I wouldn’t give them a visa to come here and make speeches,” Burke told Sky News on Sunday.

Burke also criticised Shaked for making comments in which she appeared to describe Palestinian children as “little snakes” and said the Gazan city of Khan Younis should be turned into a soccer field.

Liberal senator Dave Sharma, who previously served as Australia’s ambassador to Israel, said it was “very unusual” for the Israeli government to call in an Australian diplomat for an official rebuke.

“Israel does not do this lightly, but it does not surprise me given the government seems to have gone out of its way to get offside with Israel,” he said.

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