Australia playing into Iran’s hands on Palestine, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister says

Israel’s Deputy PM calls on Labor to back the only democracy in the Middle East, as Anthony Albanese defends sending a critic of Israeli foreign policy to the year’s most important Holocaust memorial.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus meets with Israeli Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Sharren Haskel. Picture: X

Israel has accused Labor of playing into the hands of Iran and called on it to back the only democracy in the Middle East, as Anthony Albanese defends sending Foreign Minister and critic of Israeli foreign policy Penny Wong to the year’s most important Holocaust memorial.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel has criticised Labor for failing to support a democracy and tackle anti-Semitism.

Ms Haskel on Saturday called on Australia as one of the “world’s great democracies and multicultural nations” to back the Jewish state as it battles forces that represent the “antithesis of Australian values”.

“Israel is fighting for its survival against the murderous proxies of Iran who embody the very antithesis of Australian values – it’s high time the Australian government recognised this fact and acted accordingly and supported the one true democracy in the Middle East, Israel,” Ms Haskel writes in The Weekend Australian.

Her call came as Mr Albanese fended off criticism over sending Senator Wong as Australia’s representative to the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, alongside Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, arguing that she understood racism and believed in the “dignity of every human being”.

Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel. Picture: Miriam Alster/FLASH90

Peter Dutton on Friday said Senator Wong should not go to Poland after her policy moves on Israel, and a petition arguing that Senator Wong was not the “right person to represent us” at the event had attracted almost 13,000 signatures late on Friday.

“She has stood up against anti-Semitism at each and every opportunity and will always continue to do so,” Mr Albanese told the National Press Club on Friday.

“She’s someone for whom a core belief in the dignity of every human being is just a part of her character, as much as any person I have met in my entire life.”

But Ms Haskel has criticised Labor’s record of responding to a spate of anti-Semitic arson and graffiti attacks on a childcare centre, synagogues and private homes across Australia, saying she expects the government to “find its voice in stamping out the scourge of anti-Semitism domestically”.

“I note however that the Australia Prime Minister and other Australian ministers are refusing to accept any responsibility for the shocking recent surge in anti-Semitic terror in Australia,” she writes. “There is no doubt the rise in anti-Semitism in Australia has been caused in part by the Australian government’s ongoing campaign against Israel.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong. Picture: Jacquelin Magnay

Ms Haskel cited Australia’s support for anti-Israel motions at the UN that were a “reward for Hamas’s terrorism”, refusal to grant a visa to Israeli former minister Ayelet Shaked, and calls for a ceasefire that were not a “precondition of a return of all Jewish hostages first”.

She also said she had expressed her “disappointment with the shift in the Australian government’s attitude towards Israel” to Mr Dreyfus on his recent visit.

As the Middle East conflict continues to strain social cohesion in Australia, former Defence Department Deputy Secretary for Strategy Peter Jennings said Australia should place more emphasis on supporting other democracies in its foreign policy.

“Australian foreign policy on Israel under Penny Wong is being driven by a very ideological view about the position of the Palestinians, and it’s not really connected in any sort of empirical way with what’s happening in the Middle East, what’s happening in Gaza, Iran’s support for Hamas and other terror groups,” he said.

Strategic Analysis Australia director Michael Shoebridge said the Albanese government’s Israel policy has been “overtaken by events”, arguing that changes in the security environment in the Middle East meant there was now the possibility of positive change.