Destruction of Hezbollah terror infrastructure a must

Better late than never, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles’s concession on Sunday – for the first time – that Israel has “a right to defend itself” against Iranian missile attacks suggests a shift in the Albanese government’s attitude to the Middle East crisis. But it falls short of the acknowledgment needed that part of that defence involves the destruction of Hezbollah military infrastructure.

In a briefing on Saturday, an Israel Defence Forces spokesman said IDF troops had dismantled an underground Hezbollah complex packed with weapons, combat packs, and electrical and communications infrastructure. More important, Hezbollah’s chain of command had been eliminated.

After 9000 rockets and missiles fired across the border in the past year, Israel had no choice. Mr Marles asserted in an ABC interview that “since October 7 last year, we have made it completely clear that Israel has a right to defend itself” and that “Hezbollah had a whole lot of choices, but it chose in the aftermath of October 7 to also attack Israel along with Hamas”. But as foreign editor Greg Sheridan writes, if the government always supported Israel’s right to respond militarily to Iran’s attack with more than 180 ballistic missiles last week, why didn’t it say so? Joe Biden and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin made it explicitly clear that they backed Israel’s operation to clear out Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure from anywhere near the Israel-Lebanon border.

Although Mr Marles was keen to assert that Australia had been in “lock-step” with the US in the year-long crisis, that also is false as our unfortunate failure to support Washington in successive UN votes demonstrates. Even on Sunday, Mr Marles added the rider constantly invoked by Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong that “the way in which (Israel) defends itself clearly matters”. Describing the appalling loss of life over the past year in Gaza – a situation engineered by Hamas – as “totally unacceptable”, Mr Marles did not give a clear answer when asked if Israel had acted in accordance with the rules of war. “All of that will ultimately be judged when the facts come out … what matters is that we have been using our voice to be calling for an end to these hostilities,” he said.

Like the Prime Minister and Senator Wong, Mr Marles is out of touch with the reality of Israel’s battle for survival if he believes calls for a ceasefire, backed by Australia, are helpful and will “give both sides an opportunity to break that cycle of violence to allow UN Security Council resolutions to have an effect, which would provide for diplomatic measures to allow those who live near the Israeli-Lebanese border to return with security”.

This is no time for pussyfooting when it comes to the threat Iran poses not only to Israel but also to the world, including Australia. Yet the government has been unable to muster the ticker to expel Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi for his support of slain Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. Mr Albanese insists it is in Australia’s interests to maintain relations with Tehran and leave Mr Sadeghi in place.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s unalloyed support for the barbaric October 7 slaughter shows how right Peter Dutton was when he demanded the swift expulsion of Mr Sadeghi. On Sunday, Mr Marles accused the Opposition Leader of “playing politics” over the Middle East crisis and stirring up community discord. In reality, the opposite is true: with each new development, the primary concern of the government’s ill-judged responses is to shore up voter support in western Sydney seats with large Muslim populations. This does not serve the national interest. As Israeli ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon said at a vigil in Sydney on Sunday evening to mark the first anniversary of the October 7 terror attack, the Jewish state is fighting “for the protection of the free world”.