‘Don’t point fingers at us’: Israeli ambassador’s message to Australians

Israel’s top representative in Australia has declared that mounting pressure from the Albanese government and the international community will not accelerate the creation of a Palestinian state as he insisted antisemitism was the main driving force behind global criticism of Israel.

In a rare interview, Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon said he believed many Australians fail to grasp the seriousness of the security threats his nation faces. He vowed to do a better job telling Israel’s story to the Australian public.

Israeli ambasador Amir Maimon said Israel was trying to “uproot the cancer” of Hamas. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Maimon’s extended interview with this masthead at the Israeli embassy in Canberra came after a turbulent year in the once-close Australia-Israel relationship that culminated in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashing out at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on social media.

Tensions flared between the two nations after the April killing of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom in Gaza and later when Australia regularly broke with Israel in votes at the United Nations and denied a visa to a former Israeli cabinet minister.

“I am struggling to understand why it is so difficult for the international community as a whole to support the just cause, the just war in which we’re engaging,” Maimon said when asked about the war in Gaza, which has entered its 16th month.

More than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began following Hamas’ shock October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, including more than 130 killed in Israeli air strikes over a 48-hour period last week, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Asked what he would say to ordinary Australians who feel anger at Israel over the high civilian death toll in Gaza, Maimon said: “I will tell the average Australian that he is asking the wrong guy because the war could have been over on October 8 if Hamas had released all the hostages and laid down their arms … I think that to point the fingers towards Israel is simply wrong. You are criticising the ones who were attacked, you are criticising the ones who were butchered.”

Describing Israel as a “peaceful nation”, Maimon continued: “It’s Hamas that is using hospitals and mosques and kindergarten and schools to hide and to store their weapons systems. This is something that should not be accepted, and you cannot criticise the nation that is trying to uproot this cancer.”

A veteran diplomat who served in the Israeli military’s paratrooper unit, Maimon said he believed many Australians did not appreciate that Israel had contended with hostile neighbours since its creation in 1948 and faces threats on multiple fronts ranging from Gaza and the West Bank to Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria.

“You feel blessed – you live in your beautiful country isolated from the rest of the world,” Maimon said of Australians.

“I remember when it was revealed in 2022 that China signed a security agreement with the Solomon Islands, the headlines were, ‘Wow, it is so close to our borders, about 1500 kilometres away’.

“My response was, ‘I wish that all our adversaries were so far away’.”

Human Rights Watch in December accused Israeli authorities of intentionally depriving Gaza of access to safe water for drinking and sanitation, while Medecins Sans Frontières said it was “witnessing clear signs of ethnic cleansing” in northern Gaza.

A New York Times investigation published in December found the Israeli military had “severely weakened its system of safeguards meant to protect civilians” during the war on Gaza, including by occasionally authorising strikes on senior Hamas leaders that could endanger more than 100 non-combatants.

Maimon insisted it was “absurd” that the International Criminal Court had charged Netanyahu with war crimes over Israel’s conduct in the war, condemning the move as “pure antisemitism”.

“As a proud Jew, I’m worried because I think that the root cause of what we see worldwide has nothing to do with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but with antisemitism,” he said.

Acknowledging he was “disappointed” by Australia changing its voting patterns at the UN, Maimon sought to ease tensions by saying that Israel and Australia continue to have a “good and close relationship” underpinned by shared values.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has angered local pro-Israel advocates by saying Australia wants to help build momentum for a two-state solution and urging the UN to establish a timeline for the declaration of a Palestinian state.

Maimon countered that there was no prospect of a two-state solution until Hamas is removed from power in Gaza and that such an “agreement cannot be imposed on either Israel or the Palestinians”.

He said that international calls for a two-state solution often overlooked fundamental problems – including whether Palestinian refugees should be granted a “right of return” to Israel – and the power struggle between Hamas and Fatah, a rival political party that dominates the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

“So, yes, people can talk about it and people can vote about it, and it won’t change anything on the ground unless the two parties that are involved can reach an agreement,” he said.

He expressed hope that Israel and Hamas would soon strike a ceasefire agreement that would allow for the return of the remaining Israeli hostages from Gaza.

With one year left of his ambassadorial term, Maimon expressed regret that, in his view, many Australians have a one-dimensional view of Israel that is dominated by the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Pointing to Israel’s status as a world leader in technology such as facial recognition software, he said: “I wish I could do better, and I’m taking it upon my responsibility ... to bring Australians to a better understanding of what Israel is all about.”

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