Jewish leaders lash Penny Wong as Middle East ceasefire call condemned
Jewish organisations say there can be no resolution while Hamas retains control of Gaza, cautioning Labor against embracing narratives that ‘demonise the state of Israel’.
The nation’s leading Jewish organisations have condemned Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s call for a ceasefire in the Middle East, warning there can be no resolution while Hamas retains control of Gaza and cautioning Labor against embracing narratives that “demonise the state of Israel”.
Speaking after violent clashes on Friday night when Palestinian supporters entered the heart of Jewish Melbourne in Caulfield to protest near a synagogue, Senator Wong on Sunday called on Israel to abide by international law and stop “the attacking of hospitals”.
She said that Israel – as a democracy – needed to be held to higher standards than Hamas and declared that “we all want to take the next step towards a ceasefire”, stressing that any agreement could not be one-sided and would require the agreement of both parties.
“Australia is a democracy and so too is Israel. And the standards that we seek and accept are higher. And international humanitarian law is very clear about the principles that need to be followed by Israel,” Senator Wong told the ABC. “Israel should do everything it can to observe international humanitarian law. We have seen a harrowing number of civilians, including children, killed. This has to end.”
The comments came as tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters – some brandishing anti-Semitic placards drawing on Hitler and the Nazis’ legacies – attended rallies in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. About 5000 pro-Israel supporters also gathered in Sydney’s eastern suburbs at a “Set Them Free” vigil to demand the release of more than 200 Jewish hostages taken by Hamas terrorists on October 7.
International calls have been growing for Israel to exercise restraint, with Gazan health officials saying more than 11,000 people have been killed in the five-week bombardment launched in response to the October 7 attack in which Hamas killed 1200 people – the most lethal attack on Jews since the Holocaust.
Senator Wong’s comments also triggered a fresh backlash from the Jewish community, with the Australia-Israel Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein saying that “ceasefire equals surrender”.
The Zionist Federation of Australia and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry advised the Albanese government not to lend credibility to political narratives that sought to “demonise the state of Israel”.
Hamas has no respect for international law, but we do.
— Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) November 12, 2023
Civilians and hospitals in Gaza must be protected.
We need steps towards a ceasefire, but it cannot be one-sided. pic.twitter.com/gMXOlxWFg7
“We remind the government that Article 19 of the Geneva Convention explicitly states that hospitals lose their protection if they are used for military purposes,” they said in a joint statement. “It is incontrovertible that Hamas uses Shifa and other hospitals for military purposes. There is no evidence that Israel is not observing the laws of armed conflict.”
They also warned that claims of war crimes in response to Israeli attacks on Gazan hospitals used to shield Hamas terrorists were “central to Hamas’ objectives as a terrorist organisation” and were “reverberating across the world in a new wave of anti-Semitism”. “The government of Australia should not be lending any credibility to this false and harmful narrative,” they said.
Strategic Analysis Australia director Peter Jennings said the push from Senator Wong for a ceasefire was “extremely regrettable and not what one would expect from a country that wants to be taken seriously in international affairs”.
“There’s just no logical consistency to the government’s position right now. They say Israel has a right to defend itself but they don’t appear to accept how that has to happen,” Mr Jennings told The Australian. “Leaving Hamas in charge of Gaza – is that what Penny Wong wants?”
Ahead of the return of parliament on Monday, Peter Dutton signalled his intention to make the government’s response to the Caulfield protests on Friday night a frontline political issue, and criticised the call for a ceasefire as “not consistent with our allies”.
Anthony Albanese responded to the Friday night clash on the streets of suburban inner-Melbourne in which pro-Palestinian supporters chanted the controversial anti-Israeli slogan “from the river to the sea” – by saying, on Remembrance Day, that all Australians had a responsibility to “preserve peace at home.”
“It is always worth repeating: there is no place in our nation for hatred or prejudice of any kind,” the Prime Minister said.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles on Sunday expressed concerns about social cohesion being undermined, arguing that members of the Jewish community in Australia had “never felt less safe”. “Clearly, anti-Semitism doesn’t have a place in our country,” the Defence Minister told Sky News. “This demonstration on behalf of Palestine in the heart of the Jewish community was unacceptable. And it’s welcome that the Free Palestine movement have acknowledged that it was a mistake.”
Senator Wong said, on Sunday morning, that to protest near a synagogue was “not the right thing to do”.
“I think the organisers know that which is why they have apologised,” she told the ABC. “All Australians including our Jewish community have a right to be safe and to feel safe. No one in this country should be fearful because of who they are or their faith.”
Yet her initial response posted to social media on Saturday was criticised by Mr Dutton, who accused Senator Wong and Mr Albanese of “walking both sides of the street” and “always reverting back to their history of having scant regard for Israel or the Jewish community.”
Senator Wong posted to X on Saturday that: “There is no place for violence, no place for anti-Semitism and no place for Islamophobia in Australia ... The violence in Caulfield is unacceptable.” But Mr Dutton told The Australian that pro-Palestinian protesters had driven “half way across town to a large Jewish community to protest outside a Synagogue on a holy day”.
“What examples of Islamophobia at Caulfield was Minister Wong referring to?” he asked.
International calls have mounted for a ceasefire to end the conflict in Gaza, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying over the weekend that there was “no legitimacy” for the ongoing Israeli bombardment and arguing that a ceasefire would help the Jewish homeland.
While Israel has agreed to four-hour humanitarian Israeli pauses to help protect Gaza’s civilians, it has still drawn criticism with fighting escalating around Gaza’s overcrowded hospitals – which Palestinian officials say have been hit by explosions.
Former Liberal MP and a previous Australian ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma told The Australian that “calling for a ceasefire that leaves the terrorist group Hamas in control of Gaza is only a recipe for further conflict and loss of innocent life”.
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