We should work with the US to make the Gaza plan work

Anthony Albanese should reset our relationship with Israel. Picture: NewsWire

Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan was recently backed by the UN Security Council, with a Board of Peace to be established and an International Stabilisation Force deployed. As the plan moves toward the more complex second phase, now is the time to reset our vulnerable relationship with Israel, recognising that there’s a chance that fighting will resume in Gaza if Hamas doesn’t disarm. Gaza is now divided into two zones with 53 per cent under Israeli control and 47 per cent where Hamas maintains control.

There are several steps we should take. The recent findings by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry that there were 1654 anti-Jewish incidents in the 12-month report, more than five times the average annual number before 7 October, 2023, confirms that anti-Semitism remains widespread in Australia. Israel will want to see that we are putting in more work to protect our Jewish community. At the same time, for any reset in relations to work, Australia will want to see Israeli leaders seriously investigating and prosecuting those fringe groups responsible for ongoing settler violence in the West Bank, which is harming Israel’s international reputation.

The Albanese government was correct to eject the Iranian Ambassador after revealing its role behind a synagogue attack in Melbourne and an arson attack on a Sydney café. It was right to amend the Criminal Code and designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a state sponsor of terrorism, and Australia taking a principled stand against transnational terrorism against Jews and dissidents. However, while it’s not only about Iran, we have still failed to acknowledge the Iranian proxy war that’s being waged, especially on the propaganda front, under the banner of solidarity with the Palestinians, against Israel’s existence.

It’s time to increase defence dialogue between Australia and Israel, especially on technological cooperation. If Australia has an objection to the way the Israel Defence Forces operate, the best way to express that is between the professionals that lead our armed forces. For that reason, our defence dialogue with Israel, which weakened from a very low base even further after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks, should be significantly increased, not decreased at this time.

But the product of stronger dialogue should be weighed carefully. When Penny Wong sent former Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin to Israel to probe an incident where a humanitarian convoy was erroneously targeted when mistaken to be hijacked by Hamas, his report, which backed the conclusions of the IDF’s own investigation, was largely misrepresented in the press conference with Penny Wong that followed. That just undermined the very point of the exercise, to reach the truth.

We should recognise the road to Middle East peace does not go through Europe, but regional stakeholders. Australia’s ill-advised decision to recognise a Palestinian state continued a pattern of the Albanese government following the lead of Europe down diplomatic dead ends. Meanwhile, the real breakthrough in ending the Gaza war came when the US worked with its regional allies which, it was correctly identified, had the greatest influence to bring Hamas to heel in pursuit of their own interests of regional stability.

While it may be too much to expect the Albanese government to admit its mistake, it’s not late for it to change course and work together with the US to advance Trump’s 20-point plan that currently offers the greatest hope for positive change in the region, and that is also in our interests. Let’s stop playing into the hands of radical political activists on our streets and recalibrate our foreign policy to deal with the realities of the Middle East and away from the morality play it’s become, divorced from our national interests.

There are deep and long-standing people-to-people links between Israel and Australia. Bilateral relations were not always low under Labor. Under Bob Hawke things were very good. If we don’t try and reset our relationship with Israel it will be to the detriment of Australia, Israel, and the Palestinians. We should now move to increase direct engagement with Israel, despite any political disagreements. Nobody expects Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong to agree with their Israeli counterparts, any more than they agree with their counterparts in the US. But that hasn’t prevented us from engaging with our closest ally to advance our mutual interests.

Anthony Bergin is senior fellow at Strategic Analysis Australia and lead author of The wattle and the olive: A new chapter in Australia and Israel working together.