Nation must not surrender principled stand on Israel

Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, speaks an uncomfortable truth when he questions whether his country is being held to a different standard than that which would be imposed on others. His concerns point to disappointment at the Albanese government’s contradictory support for a UN ceasefire motion that failed to hold Hamas to account for the atrocities of the October 7 invasion and massacre. Moral confusion plays into the hands of those intent on spreading anti-Semitic sentiments, many of whom are doubtless unaware of the centuries-long prejudices from which it draws its roots.

Naivety underpins the confronting scenes of protest such as the storming of Melbourne’s Carols by Candlelight celebration on Christmas Eve. And a lack of understanding enables our most senior law enforcement and security officials to claim that such protests act as a necessary safety valve that makes more serious acts of terror less likely. While this may seem superficially true, it does not account for the malicious forces that are set against the state of Israel.

Mr Maimon is right to ask whether in a comparable situation the criticisms now being levelled at Israel would be aimed at countries such as Australia or New Zealand. It is a depressing fact that Israel finds it necessary to lift its travel warnings on Australia because of the “frequent” pro-Palestine protests and rising anti-Semitism.

A lack of clarity, split loyalties and indecision on the part of the Albanese government continue to send the wrong message. Malevolent forces are emboldened and Israel has been left struggling to understand the Albanese government’s December 13 move in the UN to support a ceasefire, something that has been reportedly applauded by Hamas senior leader Ghazi Hamad. By abandoning the principled stand being taken by the United States in the UN in support of Israel’s right to defend itself, Australia is only strengthening the enemies of freedom and democracy, and prolonging the reality of war in the Middle East. It beggars belief that more than 80 days since the October 7 worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, the UN Security Council has still failed to condemn Hamas or even mention the terrorist organisation responsible for the barbaric bloodbath.

The 15-member Security Council is, in terms of the UN Charter, supposed to be the world’s “leading peacekeeping body”. It is mandated to take the lead in guiding the world through major crises such as the Gaza war. After weeks of tortuous deliberation, it finally passed a resolution on the war last Saturday (AEST) – by 13-0, with two permanent members, the US and Russia, abstaining. It was all about expediting humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza. Again, astonishingly, there was no mention of Hamas or its October 7 pogrom, no condemnation of the terrorists’ inhumane onslaught and the grotesque atrocities they committed. That omission was why the US abstained.

Curiously, the Security Council’s reluctance contrasts with the swift action it took earlier this month to condemn an assault by “terrorists” on a police station in Iran, Hamas’s paymaster, in which 11 policemen were killed and eight wounded. Security Council president Jose de la Gasca, of Ecuador, hurried to issue a statement in the name of all the Council members “expressing their deepest sympathy and condolences for the families of the victims and the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.

The Council’s unwillingness to respond in anything like the same way after the October 7 massacre of Jews brings disgrace on the UN and the pious incantations of its Portuguese socialist secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, when he constantly seeks to cast Israel as the villain responsible for the plight of Gaza’s people.

The resolution passed last weekend did at least acknowledge the reality of Israel’s role in alleviating their suffering. Significantly, it avoided repeating unrealistic calls for a ceasefire in the war, as demanded by Hamas and its supporters. Vladimir Putin’s Russia was so peeved by the ceasefire omission that it abstained in the vote. The resolution that was approved demanded the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages” (without mentioning Hamas), called for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip” but, significantly, “maintained Israel’s security authority to monitor and inspect all aid entering Gaza”. Yet there remained no condemnation of Hamas, no acknowledgment of Hamas’s unequivocal responsibility not just for the October 7 pogrom but a large measure of what has happened since, not least to Gaza’s long-suffering civilian population.

If it is to retain any vestige of the respect and importance invested in it by the UN Charter, the Security Council needs to do better and place the blame for the Gaza war and the plight of its people squarely with Hamas, where it belongs.

Obfuscating over the responsibility Hamas bears is bringing the Security Council, and the UN more broadly, into justified further disrepute. Australia must be careful that its good international standing does not become further collateral damage.