Labor adrift on Mid-East policy

The stance on Palestine represents further evidence of a serious drift in policy by the Albanese government. Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s “disappointment” over not supporting the Palestinian Authority’s controversial resolution passed by the UN General Assembly adds to perceptions of a government that is hopelessly out of touch with Australia’s national interest when it comes to Gaza and the global war against terrorism. The pusillanimous fence-sitting that saw our country feebly abstain in the vote on the fatuous resolution demanding Israel withdraw from Gaza and the West Bank, and imposing sanctions against the Jewish state, may help Anthony Albanese and Senator’s Wong’s political priorities among Muslim voters in western Sydney, but it is a weak-kneed, ill-judged travesty that not only puts our government at odds with Israel, our close partner for the past 75 years, but also gives two fingers to our pivotal alliance with the US and the Biden administration, which had been counselling the Prime Minister and Senator Wong to vote against the Palestinian resolution.

Even two of our Pacific partners, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, showed better understanding and instincts over what was at stake: both remained loyal to the US and were among 14 countries that had the good sense and courage to stand up and be counted in the face of the tidal wave of support from 124 countries, many of them of little significance. Before the vote, Senator Wong indicated she was consulting with other nations about how Australia would vote (or not). She will doubtless see justification for our abstention in the fact Five Eyes partners Canada and Britain also abstained, while New Zealand supported the resolution. Whatever satisfaction she gains is likely to be short-lived, however, given Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appears to be on the way out, while new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, despite having changed the appearance of British Labour, is rapidly showing why he was happy to serve in the shadow cabinet when it was led by the stridently anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian crackpot, Jeremy Corbyn.

It beggars comprehension that in the UN General Assembly vote, our representatives could not take a more forthright stand against a resolution that did not have single mention of Hamas’s barbaric October 7, 2023 massacre of 1200 Jews. Sadly, in justifying our abstention, Senator Wong and our UN ambassador, James Larsen, have left no doubt about how far adrift from what Australia’s policy was on the Middle East it is now under Labor.