’We stand with Israel, Penny Wong tells Israeli hostage families
Penny Wong emerged visibly moved from a meeting with the families of hostages being held in Gaza, assuring them that Australia stands in solidarity with their plight and with Israel.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong emerged visibly moved from a meeting with the families of hostages being held in Gaza during her first day in Israel, assuring them that Australia stands in solidarity with their plight and with the Jewish state as she continues a critical leg of her diplomatic tour of the Middle East.
On Wednesday, Senator Wong visited the Holocaust museum Yad Vashem where she was scheduled to lay a wreath and received a guided tour of the facility.
Hours after leaving the Jordanian capital Amman, where she pledged $21m to assist with humanitarian efforts in Gaza – including $6m to a UN agency accused of its sympathetic positioning towards Hamas – Senator Wong arrived in Jerusalem for high-level talks with President Isaac Herzog and Foreign Minister Israel Katz.
The funding announcement, part of which is destined for the UN Relief and Works Agency, was quickly seized upon by critics who urged the Albanese government to ensure taxpayer dollars weren’t inadvertently funding “organisations like Hamas” and advancing anti-Israel sentiment.
“It has in the past been implicated with funding, inadvertently, organisations like Hamas,” Liberal Senator James Paterson told the ABC. “Its schools that are run by UNRWA have been implicated in teaching anti-Semitic content to their students. An UNRWA teacher was implicated in the holding of an Israeli hostage in the most recent Gaza attacks.”
Former Labor MP David Feeney has also voiced concern about the donation, describing the funding as an investment “in hatred”.
“In recent weeks we’ve seen a Telegram group of 3000 UNRWA staff celebrating Hamas 7/10 atrocities, UNRWA teaching curriculum promot(ing) anti-Semitic hate, an UNRWA teacher held hostages,” he said on social media.
Hardened to the formalities and protocols of diplomatic tours, Senator Wong appeared uncharacteristically moved as she encountered a half-dozen people impacted by the events of October 7, including those who had seen family members kidnapped by Hamas terrorists.
Among them were relatives of 70-year-old Louis Har, taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak along with his partner, Clara Merman. More than 103 days later, Mr Har is still being held captive in Gaza. Ms Merman was released during a temporary ceasefire brokered in November, along with her sister, Gabriella Leimberg, and 17-year-old niece Maya Leimberg.
Senator Wong spoke to them of her gratitude at having the opportunity to discuss their anguish during a one-hour briefing at Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “I’m really profoundly grateful that you are willing to speak with me,” Senator Wong said.
“Our nation stands in solidarity with Israel and with you. What’s important to me is not just the solidarity between our countries but … it’s also the personal pledge, the human pledge, and I’m very grateful that you are willing to, I’m sure, (have) a very difficult conversation.”
Senator Wong’s arrival in Israel is the first such visit by a senior Albanese government official since the October 7 terrorist attacks.
Israeli dignitaries have been warmly welcoming of the Foreign Minister, but back home she faces criticism from the Liberal opposition and Jewish leaders over a decision not to visit the southern Israel towns where many of the hostages were kidnapped.
Michael Levy, brother of 33-year-old hostage Or Levy, said his meeting with Senator Wong was emotional, sincere and he described her support as genuine and incredibly important. “(It) means the world to us,” he said. “It means we’re not alone. It feels like there are other countries and other people who cares, and for us, it means everything.”
Mr Levy’s brother Or and wife Einav had driven to the Nova music festival on October 7, only to then take cover in a roadside bomb shelter as rockets from Gaza began to fall nearby.
As they hunkered down, Hamas terrorists began shooting people in the concrete structure and tossing grenades inside; somehow, Or survived the ordeal and was taken captive but Einav was murdered.
Mr Levy said even watching footage was not enough to truly comprehend the savagery that transpired.
“Even for me, as an Israeli, I thought I knew everything,” he said. “But only when I stood there, inside the bomb shelter where my sister-in-law was murdered, and my brother was kidnapped, only then I really felt how powerful this place is – seeing the bullet holes on the walls, the holes on the floor from the grenades.
“It’s a feeling I cannot describe and I think it’s very important for anyone to see it in real life.”
Asked if Senator Wong would benefit from visiting those locations, Mr Levy said: “I hope any world leader will come and visit and see it in (their) own eyes – because it’s something no story can describe.”
The Foreign Minister ended her first day by meeting with Mr Herzog – Israel’s president – who welcomed her arrival and lauded Anthony Albanese for his “moral stance” and “moral clarity” shown in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks. “His speech to parliament following the massacre of October 7 was one of the most moving speeches of leaders in the world,” Mr Herzog said.
Senator Wong told the President she had arrived in Israel as a friend, from a country “that is very, very far away”, but made sure to mention her ongoing advocacy for international law, a reference to the high number of civilian casualties being recorded in Gaza – numbers disseminated by Hamas and which do not distinguish between its militants and non-combatants.
Mr Herzog observed that Hamas is fighting the war from civilian infrastructure and noted that Australia is an island with no “terrestrial connection to another country that threatens you”.
Additional reporting: Rhiannon Down
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