Senator Wong’s one-sided diplomacy at UN exposed

Foreign Minister Penny Wong would claim otherwise, but it was alway hard to understand her actions during a trip to the UN General Assembly in New York in 2024 as anything but anti-Israel. During that visit, Senator Wong demanded that the Jewish state halt military actions against terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah, and called for a timeline for establishment of a Palestinian state. As Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive ­director Colin Rubenstein said at the time, recognising a Palestinian state before a settlement was negotiated between the two parties would not advance peace.

Senator Wong’s one-sided behaviour is now much clearer, and more concerning, especially for Jewish Australians, after the answer to a question on notice at Senate estimates. As Noah Yim reported on Thursday, Senator Wong failed to meet Israeli representatives during the trip. But she sat down with representatives of Iran’s terror-supporting regime, the Palestinian Authority and former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern. Senator Wong’s call for ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon came at the height of Israel’s efforts to crush Hezbollah in Lebanon. Senator Wong told estimates that her Israeli counterpart did not attend the UN General Assembly. “I would usually engage with counterparts,” she said. But Liberal senator Dave Sharma said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in attendance, as would have been Israel’s permanent representative to the UN.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman David Coleman said Senator Wong found time to meet Dame Jacinda, the Palestinian Authority and 14 other people but not Israel. “She also willingly attended a ministerial meeting hosted by UNRWA, who had multiple employees sacked for their apparent involvement in the October 7 atrocities,” Mr Coleman said.

Senator Wong has never hidden her distaste for the way Israel, Australia’s longstanding ally, is waging war in its battle for survival. She also has been upfront in her hopes for a reformed Palestinian Authority and the role it could play in finding a solution to the Middle East imbroglio. But she cannot be anything other than profoundly disappointed by the latest disclosure about the so-called moderate PA’s notorious “pay for slay” Martyrs Fund that pays stipends to terrorists and their families, and PA president Mahmoud Abbas’s dishonesty about it. The Wall Street Journal writes that Mr Abbas received “media hosannas” from all the usual Palestinian apologists this month for a decree he allegedly had issued at last putting an end to the shameful “pay for slay” arrangement that pays about $300m each year (much of it money from donor states) as a reward for terrorists who have attacked Israelis. That includes those who drive cars into Israeli crowds, randomly stab or shoot Israelis on the streets, plant bombs on Israeli buses and even those involved in the October 7, 2023, slaughter of 1200 Jews.

The media hosannas were wrong, however. The claim that “play for slay” had been terminated was a con. Mr Abbas, in his bid to placate international donors worried about where their money was going, was lying. That emerged clearly last week when the octogenarian ruler reassured his Fatah party’s Revolutionary Council: “Even if we have only one penny left, it is for the prisoners and martyrs. I will not agree, and you will not agree, to reduce any obligation, any interests or any penny given to them. They must receive everything, as in the past, and they are more precious than any of us!”

That “everything” amounts to stipends that reportedly include monthly stipends paid to murderous terrorists that exceed the wages of Palestinian doctors and teachers. According to US reports, the PA tried to excise the key passages relating to “pay for slay” from a video made of Mr Abbas’s address. But an Israeli Arab journalist got hold of it and let the cat out of the bag.

Senator Wong and other members of the Albanese government should not ignore Mr Abbas’s capricious backflip on a policy that reflects disgracefully on the PA and highlights the naivety of those who see the PA as moderate and offering a possible pathway out of the Palestinian crisis. The PA is not in the same realm of evil as Hamas. But its support for terrorism and those who murder Israelis is a reality Senator Wong and Anthony Albanese should not overlook.

Senator Wong’s failure to meet Israeli officials in New York showed disregard for what has long been one of Australia’s most important international relationships. It also showed disdain and disrespect for Australia’s Jewish community at a time of rampant anti-Semitism.

One of the major problems of the current situation in Gaza is the lack of a clear way forward. Israel, for its own survival, is right in its efforts to annihilate Hamas. But the Palestinian Authority has shown none of the leadership and goodwill needed to take a leading role in the challenge of establishing a two-state solution.