Bibi shows the West what leadership looks like

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. Picture: AFP

Several years ago I had lunch in the Knesset dining room with Benjamin Netanyahu. It was during one of his brief periods in opposition. I asked him why Israel had walked back from a two-state solution. His answer was crisp and clear.

The Palestinian state would be controlled by Hamas, and Hamas was a proxy of Iran. Israel’s border with Iran would be in the middle of Jerusalem and Iran wanted to eliminate Israel. A two-state solution could happen only with a moderate Palestinian people who would accept Israel’s right to exist and cut their ties to Tehran. Most Israelis would agree with that.

It’s now exactly 12 months since the horrific Hamas attack. In those 12 months reputations have been made and lost. Joe Biden has looked uncertain and weak, and Anthony Albanese has lost his moral compass and turned against Israel. The UN secretary-general has damaged the reputation of that once important institution. In contrast, Netanyahu has rehabilitated his reputation and become the iron man of democratic leaders.

He has presided over a successful war against Hamas, crippled Hezbollah and destroyed some of the Houthi infrastructure in Yemen. Netanyahu also has exposed Iran’s control of its surrogates and reminded the world Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis are agents of the Iranian theocracy. He has demonstrated to the Iranian people that his country will not be bullied by the extremist Islamist cranks who control Iran. Israel also has been able to release some of the hos­tages taken so cruelly by Hamas.

An Israeli army tank drives in an area near Israel's southern border with the Gaza Strip on October 6. The Israeli military said its forces surrounded the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza in response to indications Hamas was rebuilding despite nearly a year of strikes and fighting. Picture: AFP

Netanyahu has done all of this in the teeth of a brilliant Hamas propaganda campaign that has been sucked up by a large number of Westerners hostile to the state of Israel, including, I’m ashamed to say, the Australian government. Having launched a brutal attack on Israel and with a clear commitment to destroy the nation of Israel and its Jewish population, Hamas and Hezbollah have been able to sell the narrative that they are victims when Israel defends itself. I find it incredible that so many people have bought that.

Most recently, we are being told Israel is invading Lebanon. Yet Hezbollah, in defiance of UN Security Council resolution 1701, has fired something like 9000 rockets into Israel over the past year, causing 63,000 people to be relocated from the north of the country. When the Israelis respond to this with great vigour this is seen as a breach of Lebanese sovereignty.

There’s no such argument coming from the same sources when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s army attacks across the Russian border into Kursk and seizes villages there.

I’m 100 per cent behind the Ukrainians because they need to destroy the supply lines of the Russian army. But why is it OK for the Ukrainians to encroach on Russian territory in defence of their country but not OK for the Israelis to go into Gaza and the south of Lebanon to stop missile attacks from people who are trying to destroy their whole nation? Where is the outrage?

Netanyahu has pressed on despite trenchant criticism from substantial parts of the West. Biden has supported Israel as any US president would.

But at one stage he imposed a partial arms embargo on Israel and demanded a ceasefire in Gaza – meaning the Israelis should lay down their arms while Hamas repaired its tunnels and were rearmed by Iran. More recently, Biden has called for a 21-day ceasefire in the war against Hezbollah. The British government parroted the words of the Americans and outrageously imposed a partial arms embargo two days after the Israelis found six hos­tages brutally shot dead in Gaza.

According to this logic, there should have been a ceasefire immediately after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the Americans should not have responded disproportionately during World War II. Of course that’s absurd, just as it is absurd to tell the Israelis to stop fighting to defend their country.

If Netanyahu had listened to the demands of Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer as well as the bleating of the Australian government, Hamas would still be an effective military operation in Gaza and Hezbollah would have time to reconsolidate and rearm. The sooner they are defeated, the sooner the war will end.

What is so admirable about Netanyahu is that he defied Biden and European leaders and did what he thought was in the best interest of his country’s security, not Western politics.

Now is the moment of truth. Does the unpopular regime in Iran want to risk plunging their country into a war with Israel in an attempt to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth? It is they who should de-escalate and Biden and co should be telling the Iranians to accept Israel’s right to exist and stop attacks on Israel.

That should be where the weight of Western diplomacy is, not the constant criticism of Israel. The Albanese government’s position – the first time in generations that an Australian government has been hesitant in its support of Israel – is all about votes. It is trying to ingratiate itself with Muslim activists and Islamists to save seats from the Greens. It is bereft of principles.

Netanyahu has been a hate figure for the centre left and far left. Of course he has domestic scandals and issues to deal with, but his political skill and courage over the past year make him a standout leader. As I watched his speech to the UN General Assembly I thought he stood head and shoulders above the hesitant drivel and poll driven cliches of Western ministers and leaders.