Forced into a corner, Labor finally finds a little spine on Israel

After a year of muddle that has seen pro-Hezbollah marches in our streets, a shocking rise in anti-Semitism, and society all but torn apart, Labor has begun to find its voice on the Middle East.

You can always count on the Albanese government to do the right thing, after they have tried everything else.

Apologies to Sir Winston Churchill, to whom a similar quote taking a playful jab at America is sometimes attributed.

But it’s pretty much all one can say when, after a year of mixed messages, muddle, confusion, and generally playing both sides of the fence, the prime minister and his team suddenly – finally! – come out with a strong, clear, morally coherent position on Israel.

On Monday, a year after Hamas’s brutal October 7 massacre, Labor found its spine.

Health Minister Mark Butler told Sydney’s Jewish community, “no self-¬respecting nation would fail to defend itself if attacked the way Israel has been”.

Mark Butler, Minister for Health, at a Jewish community gathering at Vaucluse for the anniversary of October 7. Photo: Jeremy Piper

He also said, “Only Jewish parents have to watch their children walk into schools surrounded by security fences and guards … only Jewish aged care facilities – subjected to threats and vandalism since October 7 – have had to hire security guards on police advice.

His words came after foreign minister Richard Marles said on the weekend that Israel was entitled to respond to Iranian missile attacks.

It’s great that not one but two senior Albanese minsters finally appear to get it but as they say in Yiddish, mazel tov – good luck to them.

Protesters hold up pictures of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and the Hezbollah flag at Town Hall in Sydney. Picture: NewsWire / Damian Shaw

Because coming in a year late, after the country has been all but torn apart over the issue on Labor’s watch, this looks a bit cynical.

Has Labor woken up to the fact that Australians were sick of weekly demonstrations in their streets showing support not just for Gazan civilians or a Palestinian state but, as of last week, slain Hezbollah terror chief Hassan Nasrallah?

Or have they noticed that opposition leader Peter Dutton’s moral clarity was cutting through against Labor’s both sides muddle?

Because, don’t forget, Labor’s straightforward line on Israel is a very new thing indeed.

Within hours of the first reports coming in from southern Israel last year that something terrible was going, Labor started showing the first signs of getting stuck in the weeds.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong immediately called for Israeli “restraint”, a theme that has echoed through her speeches and social media accounts for the past year.

Anti-Semitic graffiti has been reported across Australia since October 7.

For the past year Wong has also obsessed over a “two state” solution, telling the UN as recently as last week that this would lead to “peace and security” for both sides.

While other world leaders including then-British PM Rishi Sunak were fronting their local Jewish communities pledging solidarity and support, our prime minister was chilling at Uluru waiting for Pat Farmer to finish his run around Australia for the Voice.

It was only three days after the attacks that Albanese made a flying visit to Melbourne’s St Kilda Hebrew Congregation to offer his in person support and solidarity.

Despite a rise in overt anti-Semitism seemingly ripped from a 1930s history book, time and again the Albanese government tried to play both sides, always warning of the concomitant dangers of Islamophobia.

How different things might have been had Labor found this same voice a year ago. Picture: Jason Edwards

To his credit, Albanese has kept Labor from going entirely the way of its British counterpart, particularly when it was led by Jeremy Corbyn and became a hotbed of anti-Semitism.

But by his very reactive and poll-driven nature, his own personal beliefs (he co-founded Parliamentary Friends of Palestine in 1999) and the fact that many important Labor seats are home to large Muslim populations, Albanese was always going to struggle with this one.

At the same time Opposition leader Peter Dutton, as well has his team including foreign policy and national security figures James Paterson and Simon Birmingham, have not taken a step back in their understanding of the true meaning of October 7.

Addressing the same eastern suburbs vigil where Mark Butler spoke, Dutton offered what can only be called extreme clarity about the evils of Hamas and other terror groups that want to do Israel in.

He also called out the “not our fight” mentality of those who’d rather ignore it and hope it all goes away: this is about “right over wrong, to stand up for democracy over tyranny.”

Nor, incidentally, is this a left-right, red-blue thing.

On a state level, NSW Labor premier Chris Minns has been admirable on the rising anti-Semitism we’ve seen on our streets almost literally from day one, starting with the “eff the Jews” Opera House protest.

How different things might have been had federal Labor found this same voice a year ago and did the right thing right away - instead of trying everything else first.

Originally published as Forced into a corner, Labor finally finds a little spine on Israel