Abandonment of Israel: Josh Frydenberg and Mark Leibler accuse Labor of historic betrayal
Labor stands accused of abandoning Israel in a historic betrayal of Jews, the national interest and the ALP’s best traditions, in an anguished intervention from two prominent Jewish leaders.
The Albanese government stands accused of abandoning Israel at its darkest hour in a historic betrayal of Jews, the national interest and the ALP’s best traditions, with an anguished intervention by two of the nation’s most prominent Jewish leaders days before the anniversary of the October 7 massacre.
In unflinching critiques of Anthony Albanese’s policy on Israel and its fight against Iran and its terrorist proxies, respected lawyer Mark Leibler and former treasurer Josh Frydenberg warn Labor is refusing to take a position in “a battle of good versus evil”, creating a leadership vacuum that has allowed an “explosion of anti-Semitism”.
Mr Leibler, a social justice campaigner, and Mr Frydenberg, who was the country’s highest-ranked Jewish MP, say the government’s refusal to support Israel stands in contrast to 70 years of bipartisanship and “moral clarity” from prime ministers from Robert Menzies to Scott Morrison.
Their comments, as the nation prepares for a weekend of mourning and a raft of anti-Israeli protests, are the strongest criticism yet by the nation’s Jewish community of the government’s handling of the October 7 aftermath.
Mr Leibler, a key ally of the Prime Minister in his failed Indigenous voice campaign, writes in The Weekend Australian that the government’s actions since the Hamas attack have been “at best confused and at worst driven by domestic political considerations”, undermining social cohesion and leaving Jews across the nation feeling abandoned. Mr Frydenberg will stand in front of Melbourne’s Jewish community at an October 7 memorial service on Monday and accuse the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Penny Wong of failing a crucial leadership test in their response to the deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust. “On the very same day of the October 7 attack, with the blood of the innocent victims not even dry, Foreign Minister Penny Wong was calling for Israel’s restraint,” Mr Frydenberg will say.
“Since then she has led pious calls for a ceasefire which in the absence of Hamas’s defeat would only lead them to regroup and in their own words go again.”
Mr Frydenberg will say that such horrific events should bring “moral clarity from our leaders but here in Australia the opposite has been the case”, according to an advance copy of his speech.
“Australia’s response has been characterised by double speak and equivocation with the government unable to stake out a clear moral position and hold it with conviction.
“The result has been to project weakness abroad and create a leadership vacuum at home.”
Their comments come as Mr Albanese refuses to explicitly endorse Israel’s promised military response against Iran’s missile attack this week, and rejects Coalition calls to expel Iran’s top diplomat in Australia, Ahmad Sadeghi, after he hailed slain Hezbollah commander Hassan Nasrallah as a “remarkable leader”.
As police give the green light for a series of anti-Israel protests in coming days including one by extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, the 80-year-old Mr Leibler writes of his alarm at the surging hatred of Jews in Australia since the massacre of more than 1200 Israelis.
“Despite our long history of oppression, I never imagined the explosion of anti-Semitism, especially at a time of such anguish and especially here in Australia, where my parents were provided refuge from the Nazis. The friends who would stop returning my calls,” he says.
Mr Leibler, a co-founder of top law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler, says he is dismayed and disappointed in Australia’s foreign policy stance in the past six months, as Australia has thrown its support behind Palestinian statehood ahead of any peace settlement.
“On the one hand, our Foreign Minister consistently has said that terrorists have no role in a future two-state solution, that the hostages must be returned and that Israel has the right to defend itself,” he writes.
“But the government seems to oppose almost every action Israel takes to do so.
“How can Australia call for a ceasefire while Hezbollah and Iran are firing rockets into Israel? While Hamas is still in power in Gaza, still holding more than 60 hostages and keeping more than 60,000 Israelis displaced from their homes?”
Mr Leibler says “the overwhelming majority of Jewish Australians” now question whether the nation’s bipartisan commitment to Israel will survive, and compares the Albanese government’s position on Israel with the staunch support of Labor government’s from Bob Hawke to Julia Gillard.
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