Disappointed ALP accused of ‘dangerous’ UN posturing, as ‘new era’ of conflict detonates

Labor has been accused of putting electoral politics ahead of the national interest after abstaining from a controversial UN vote on Palestine.

Palestinian representative Ryad Mansour, centre, is congratulated after the UN General Assembly vote. Picture: AFP

Labor has been accused of putting electoral politics ahead of the national interest after abstaining from a controversial UN vote on Palestine as the Albanese government scrambles to defend seats against the Greens and a new Muslim political movement.

Penny Wong said she was “disappointed” Australia had been unable to soften the UN resolution demanding an Israeli retreat from Gaza and the West Bank to something Australia could have supported.

The Coalition and Jewish leaders blasted the decision to break with the US for a third time on a key UN vote affecting Israel, as the Greens condemned the government as “gutless fence-sitters”.

Australia was one of 43 countries to abstain from casting a vote on the non-binding UN motion authored by the Palestinian Authority, which was carried by 124 votes to 14 on Thursday morning in the General Assembly. The ­Opposition Leader said the ­government should have voted with the US, which condemned the resolution as one-sided and selective. “That’s exactly what the Hawke government would have done, it’s what a Howard government would have done, it’s what an Abbott government would have done,” Mr Dutton said.

How the UN vote played out.

He said the government was damaging Australia’s relationship with the US and Israel to protect inner-city seats from the Greens and “hold votes here in western Sydney”, where Labor’s hold on traditionally safe electorates is being challenged by the Muslim Vote. “They want to stop that haemorrhaging of the Labor Party core vote, and they’re making some weird decisions, but some bad and dangerous decisions, and this is the latest one,” Mr Dutton told 2GB.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim accused the ­government of cowardice, saying the resolution broke with decades of UN practice that tied the ­relinquishment of captured ­Palestinian land to a lasting peace settlement.

“Australia should have had no part of it. It should have voted ‘no’ instead of taking the morally cowardly way out and abstaining,” Mr Wertheim said.

Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said the motion was a setback for the peace process that Australia should have rejected outright.

“This Palestinian-written resolution stands in complete contradiction to Australia’s bipartisan policy of seeking to encourage a negotiated two-state peace, as well as UN Security Council resolutions calling for this outcome,” he said.

The Foreign Minister said Australian negotiators had worked hard to water down the motion but were ultimately unsuccessful.

“We worked very hard in New York with others, including the Palestinian delegation, to seek amendments that would enable us to support it,” she told the ABC. “We were disappointed that the amendments that we and many others supported were not accepted. For that reason, we abstained.”

Senator Wong pointed to the government’s backing for recognition of a Palestinian state in the UN, its repeated calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, its sanctions on Israeli settlers, and suspension of weapons exports to Israel.

Greens NSW senator Mehreen Faruqi accused Senator Wong of “empty words”, saying the government was “on the wrong side of history”.

“To be gutless fence-sitters by abstaining on a vote in the UN for Israel to end its occupation of Gaza and the West Bank – that’s just plain cowardly,” she said.

“The Labor government can’t pick and choose when international law applies and when it doesn’t. Labor needs to stop enabling genocide and occupation. Enough is enough.”

The UN vote came amid fears within the government of a pro-Palestine electoral backlash in inner-city progressive seats and electorates in the outer suburbs with large Muslim populations.

The Muslim Vote is critical of senior government ministers in western Sydney seats, including Tony Burke, Chris Bowen, Ed Husic and Jason Clare. Mr Burke is facing a challenge from pro-Palestine independent Ziad Basyouny in Watson, but it is unknown whether more candidates backed by the Muslim Vote will eventuate.

The UN’s special rapporteur on human rights, Ben Saul, said the resounding vote of support for the resolution represented “a welcome and powerful commitment by most countries to enforce international law and the world court’s judgment against Israel’s systematic violations of fundamental global rules”.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim

“It is disappointing that Australia abstained from the vote and has not explained what it disagrees with in the resolution,” Professor Saul said.

The motion was the first by Palestine since it became a de facto UN member four months ago with the support of Australia and 142 other nations, amid stiff opposition from the US. Australia also backed a resolution in December calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, which the US rejected.

The latest resolution demanded Israel comply with an International Court of Justice opinion in July urging an end to its “unlawful presence” in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The motion also called for reparations for Palestinians, sanctions and travel bans on Israelis linked to the occupation of the territories, and a ban on arms sales to the Jewish state.

The UK, Canada and Germany were among the nations that abstained, while New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia and France supported the motion, along with most of Asia and the developing world.