The administration’s destruction of relations with Israel undermines our strategic interests in the Middle East, harms intelligence cooperation, weakens trade and investment, and – uniquely, in our view – puts domestic politics ahead of diplomatic interests – and this from an administration that claims to bring “nuance” to foreign policy.
Take, for example, relations with intelligence. Six years ago, Benjamin Netanyahu revealed that Israeli intelligence had passed information to our security agencies to thwart an Islamic State plan to blow up an Etihad flight from Sydney.
The plot was orchestrated by a senior Islamic State commander based in Syria, and it put our security agencies on alert because it demonstrated that homegrown jihadists are able to gain direct access to the plans of terrorists in the Middle East.
The then Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton thanked the Israeli authorities for the tip-off. He pointed out that Israel’s intelligence service had “enormous capabilities” and maintained an “important relationship” with ASIO and the Australian Federal Police.
The security authorities of Australia and Israel have worked hard to restore trust following events nearly 15 years ago, when we expelled an Israeli intelligence officer in response to an Israeli operation that used fake Australian passports in a plot to assassinate a Hamas leader.
That action was a setback for relations. What followed shows that maturity and focus on shared interests can take relations through difficult periods. The intelligence cooperation we received from Israel six years ago saved lives. Israeli intelligence on terrorist threats would be no less valuable today. Given the growing list of diplomatic slights, insults and hasty judgements from Canberra since the start of Israel’s justified war on Hamas, Israelis may think twice about providing Australia with vital intelligence. Our government has adopted an astonishingly cynical attitude toward Israel, refusing to take a principled stand against unjustified litigation against Israel at the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice, and against the attacks at the United Nations.
As a matter of petty politics, we have effectively banned arms exports to Israel. It remains in Australia’s interest that Israel be able to defend itself against Iran and its terrorist proxies. Our interests in the Middle East would be significantly damaged if Iran were to dominate.
For Israelis, it is a double insult that Foreign Minister Penny Wong sent an Australian investigator to investigate a tragic backfire against a humanitarian aid convoy and then misrepresented the contents of the report confirming the Israeli investigation.
Just recently, Wong condemned Israel for an airstrike on a Hamas headquarters embedded in a humanitarian base, without waiting to see whether the Hamas Health Ministry’s exaggerated claims about the number of civilian casualties had been even remotely verified.
Our government’s unconventional posturing on the ceasefire, its supposed call for “moderation” in war, its unsubstantiated claims of an Islamophobia problem, and its denial of open anti-Semitism are morally and intellectually reprehensible.
This attitude comes at the expense of clear-sighted strategic analysis. When Anthony Albanese says there is no place for Hamas in Gaza, how does he think this will be achieved? If Labor calls for an immediate ceasefire, the result would be that Hamas remains in power.
Now we have the absurdity of the ASIO chief believing that it is not a problem if people have “only rhetorical support” for Hamas, but not for its ideology. There is no such thing as an ideology-free Hamas, just a banned terrorist organisation.
If the government was serious about vetting potential refugees from Gaza, Israel would be the only country that could provide detailed intelligence on individuals. Labor’s electoral fears should not be a barrier to more stringent vetting. Otherwise, in a few years’ time, we will simply be maximising ASIO’s caseload. What benefit does that have for Australia?
Albanese is under pressure from pro-Palestinian elements in Labor allied with the extremist Greens. But appeasing these elements has come at a price. We have damaged our friendship, influence and power with Israel. Other Middle Eastern countries will notice the fickleness and unreliability of our approach at a time when they are seeking consensus on how to deal with Iran and its proxies. Can anyone imagine that Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Egypt currently see Australia as a major contributor to regional stability in the Middle East?
In the United States, Australia’s lack of backbone will damage our relations with Democrats, because they understand the threat from Iran. Washington knows the difference between geopolitics and woke posturing, even if it does both. If Trump wins, Australia’s Middle East policy will be a black mark. Our government has failed to confront the growing extremist cancer in our own society, created by the unholy alliance of clueless, manipulated progressives and extremist Islam.
Labor’s “differentiated” diplomacy is not working. Relations with Israel need to be reset. The government may disagree about the course and conduct of the war, but we should work to remain trusted partners of Israel in the long-term strategic interests of both sides.
Anthony Bergin is a senior fellow and Peter Jennings is a director of Strategic Analysis Australia. A version of this article appeared in The Australian.
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