Message from former PMs is one that must be heard
The rare but welcome display of unanimity among six former prime ministers from both sides of politics – John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison – and their pointed warning that “no complaint or concern about international affairs justifies hate speech against any Australian, or any Australian community” are profoundly relevant to the deepening Middle East crisis.
The contents of their open letter need to be heeded by all Australians, and not only Australians. That includes the emphatic declaration: “We believe we speak for the vast majority of Australians, of all faiths and of none, when we say we stand in solidarity with Jewish Australians at this time. Likewise, we stand too with the Australian Palestinian community whose families are dying and suffering in this terrible conflict. They, too, deserve our love and support. Our nation’s success depends on us not allowing conflict overseas to turn Australians against each other.” It is hard to believe that Paul Keating, for whatever reason, could not bring himself to support publicly such worthwhile sentiments. He is not alone, however, in being unwilling to do so.
Responding to the statement, the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, responsible for the current wave of pro-Palestine demonstrations, grumbled that the former prime ministers “have allowed themselves to be used as a tool in a campaign by the pro-Israel lobby”. The APAN could not be more misguided. What the former leaders have done is wisely recognise the gravity of the crisis caused by the conflict, not only for countries in the Middle East but also others across the world, including Australia. Scenes such as those witnessed at the Makhachkala airport in the Russian (Sunni Muslim) Caucasus republic of Dagestan on Sunday when a murderous mob stormed an aircraft arriving from Israel, searching for Jewish passengers to lynch, could not be more alarming. Like the Hamas terrorists’ appalling October 7 slaughter of 1400 Jews, including even small children who were decapitated, the lynch mob’s wild-eyed insanity was symptomatic of the dreadful wave of grotesque anti-Semitism sweeping the world.
The plight of innocent Palestinians, including children, who are caught in the crossfire as a result of a calculated strategy by Hamas, is also horrifying. If there were any doubt about the reason for the Jewish state’s determination, it was demolished on Monday when details emerged of a television interview given in recent days by one of Hamas’s top leaders, the elegantly suited Khaled Mashal, who lives luxuriously under heavy guard far from the blood and gore of the Gaza battlefield in the Qatar capital, Doha. Pressed by a female reporter from the Al Arabiya network about the casualties being caused by Israel’s offensive, he responded chillingly: “Nations, my dear sister, are not easily liberated. The Russians sacrificed 30 million people in World War II to be free from Hitler’s attack. The Vietnamese sacrificed 3.5 million people until they defeated the Americans.” Clearly, the more killing and carnage there is, the happier Mashal and his mob will be.
Against that backdrop, it is hard to be optimistic about any early end to the conflict or the dangerous divisions it has opened up in what the six former prime ministers note is Australia’s successful multicultural society. But it is imperative that amid the deepening horror, sight is not lost of the need for Middle Eastern nations themselves to do much more to help defeat the murderous Hamas scourge. Eminent writer and intellectual Jordan Peterson, who is attending the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference in London this week, suggested Hamas’s onslaught could represent “the last gasp of dictators in the Islamic world” and that it might even be the “death rattle” of Iran, Hamas’s proxy. Dr Peterson took heart from the fact, despite the war, Israel’s historic Abraham Accords that normalised its relations with Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and United Arab Emirates remain intact. So, at least for now, do advanced negotiations between Israel and Saudi Arabia for the bilateral normalisation.
It is vital that all sides to the accords do everything possible to ensure their survival. Gloomy though the outlook for an early end to the hostilities appears, thought must be given to what happens to Gaza when the fighting is over. As former American Middle East peace negotiator Dennis Ross says: “The time to be thinking about the day after is not when you get there. It’s before you get there.” He is right.
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