‘Very thankful’: Top Palestinian envoy praises Australia for breaking with Israel

The departing de facto Palestinian ambassador to Australia has predicted a re-elected Albanese government would recognise a Palestinian state as he praised Labor for daring to repeatedly anger Israel and break with the United States in its stance on the Middle East.

Izzat Abdulhadi will end his term as head of the general delegation of Palestine in Australia next week after more than 18 years in the role.

Abdulhadi forcefully rejected claims by Israel’s ambassador to Australia, made in an interview with this masthead, that Hamas should be held responsible for the death toll in Gaza, arguing Israel had waged the war with reckless disregard for civilian lives.

Izzat Abdulhadi, head of the general delegation of Palestine to Australia, says he is grateful Labor has shifted its position on the Middle East.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“This attack by Hamas [on October 7] does not justify this mass killing, the burning of hospitals, the killing of women and children who do not support Hamas,” he said from the West Bank.

“It is beyond imagining what is happening there ... even if Hamas uses human shields, this does not justify Israel killing the shields.”

Almost 46,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza since the war began in 2023, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, including 49 people killed in Israeli air strikes on Monday.

Israel, which says it is fighting to ensure its citizens are no longer at risk of Hamas terrorist attacks, began the war after the group’s October 7 incursion, during which about 1200 people were killed and more than 240 taken hostage.

This masthead revealed on Tuesday that Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus is planning to travel to Israel in the coming weeks to help stabilise a bilateral relationship that has become increasingly acrimonious.

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson accused Foreign Minister Penny Wong of antagonising the Netanyahu government, saying it “speaks volumes that the attorney-general is being sent to Israel to try to repair the profound damage to the bilateral relationship”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday that Dreyfus “is an appropriate person to visit Israel”.

“We have people regularly visit our friends, and Mark Dreyfus is visiting,” the prime minister told reporters.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said Dreyfus would face “difficult questions” about Australia’s stance on Israel and the rise of antisemitism in Australia.

“We hope that the attorney-general returns to Australia with a newfound appreciation of why standing with Israel through this time of peril is not only the right thing to do, but in the national interest,” he said.

Abdulhadi, who is not technically an ambassador because Australia does not recognise a Palestinian state, expressed regret that Australia had not recognised Palestinian statehood during his tenure, but said he was “very optimistic” a Labor government would do so if it won the next federal election, which is due by May.

“There are many indications that they will recognise the state of Palestine and I think it will be actually surprising if they don’t after all the positions they have taken,” he said, pointing to strong support for Palestine in the union movement and Labor membership base.

“Recognition of the state of Palestine should not be pending Israel’s approval because self-determination for the Palestinian people is a right under international law.”

Labor’s policy platform “calls on the Australian government to recognise Palestine as a state” and says it “expects that this issue will be an important priority”.

Abdulhadi, who arrived in Australia in 2006, said he was “very thankful and grateful” to the Albanese government for shifting Australia’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“They have had the courage to take difficult positions that have sometimes attracted a lot of criticism,” Abdulhadi said.

“I think there has been a lot of progress under this government for Palestine, and I hope it will continue.”

Abdulhadi credited the government for voting in favour of a ceasefire in Gaza at the United Nations, designating the Palestinian territories “occupied” rather than “disputed” and scrapping the Morrison-era recognition of West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

He also praised Wong for restoring funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees, and a major speech in which she said recognition of Palestine did not necessarily have to come at the end of a negotiated peace process.

The government has reversed Australia’s long-standing voting record on several UN resolutions, including by supporting a December motion calling for Israel to end its presence in the West Bank and Gaza as soon as possible.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by attacking the government on social media, accusing it of adopting an “extreme anti-Israeli position” that had encouraged a surge of antisemitism in Australia.

Abdulhadi represents the Palestinian Authority, which is dominated by Fatah, a more moderate political rival of Hamas, but is not a member of either party.

He said the war in Gaza had been so deadly that the international community should gather to rethink the rules of war, as it did after World War II.

“We Palestinians are all in grief, in tears, watching these images on the TV,” he said.

Abdulhadi labelled Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide, echoing several major human rights organisations and nations such as South Africa, which has filed a genocide claim against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

Israel has rejected the genocide charge.

Abdulhadi said he regarded Hamas’s October 7 attacks as “totally wrong” but added: “We can’t just perceive history as beginning on October 7.

“We can’t ignore the root causes of the problem: the siege of Gaza, what happened in 1948 [when Israel was founded] and the continuous systematic oppression of Palestinian people.”

He urged the government to create a settlement pathway for the estimated 1400 Palestinians who had sought refuge in Australia that would allow them to work, access Medicare and study at university.

“These new arrivals can be an asset for Australia, not a liability,” he said. “Many of them are doctors, dentists, engineers. They are very tired and exhausted by what happened in Gaza and they want to start a new life.”

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