The Australian government’s trashing of relations with Israel undermines our strategic interest in the Middle East, damages intelligence co-operation, blunts trade and investment and – uniquely, in our view – puts domestic politics ahead of diplomatic interests. This from a government that purports to bring “nuance” to foreign policy.
Take the intelligence relationship. Six years ago, Benjamin Netanyahu revealed that Israeli intelligence had shared information with our security agencies to foil an Islamic State plot to blow up an Etihad flight from Sydney.
Two brothers, Khaled Khayat and Mahmoud Khayat, tried to smuggle an improvised explosive device hidden inside a meat grinder on to the plane. The attempt was aborted before they reached the airport screening. The plot had been orchestrated by a senior commander of the Islamic State, based in Syria, alarming our security agencies by showing the ability of homegrown jihadis to access plans directly from terrorists in the Middle East.
The home affairs minister at the time, Peter Dutton, thanked Israeli authorities for the tip-off. He pointed out that Israel has an “enormous capacity” within its intelligence community, and had an “important relationship” with ASIO and the Australian Federal Police.
Australia and Israel’s security agencies have worked hard to rebuild trust after the events of nearly 15 years ago, when we expelled an Israeli intelligence officer. This was in response to an Israeli operation that used forged Australian passports in a plan to assassinate a Hamas leader.
That action was a setback in relations. What followed shows that maturity and focusing on shared interests can take relationships through difficult patches. The intelligence co-operation we received from Israel six years ago saved lives. Israeli intelligence about terrorist threats would be no less valuable today. Given the growing list of diplomatic slights, insults and rushes to judgment coming from Canberra from the beginning of Israel’s justified war on Hamas, the Israelis may think twice about providing key intelligence to Australia. Our government has adopted an astonishingly cynical approach to Israel, refusing to take a principled stand against unjustified lawfare against Israel in the ICC and ICJ, and against the pile-ons at the UN.
Out of what can only be described as petty politics we have effectively banned arms exports to Israel (the eight defence permits for Israel we’ve approved since the 7 October attacks are solely for items used by Australian defence and law enforcement and will return here). It remains in Australia’s interests that Israel has the capacity to defend itself against Iran and its terrorist proxies. Our interests in the Middle East would be substantially damaged if Iran were to dominate.
The Israelis feel the double insult of Foreign Minister Penny Wong dispatching an Australian investigator into the tragic mistargeting of a humanitarian aid convoy and then misrepresenting the contents of the report that validated the Israeli investigation.
More recently, Wong condemned Israel for an airstrike on a Hamas headquarters embedded in a humanitarian compound, without waiting to test the inflated claims of civilian casualties made by Hamas’s own health ministry.
Our government’s undergraduate posturing over ceasefires, the pretence of calling for “moderation” in war, claiming without evidence that there’s an Islamophobia problem and denying open anti-Semitism has been morally and intellectually bankrupt.
The posturing comes at the expense of clear-eyed strategic analysis. When Anthony Albanese says there’s no place for Hamas in Gaza, how does he think that outcome will be delivered? When Labor calls for an immediate ceasefire, the result would be to leave Hamas in charge.
Now we have the absurdity of the head of ASIO imagining that if people “just have rhetorical support” for Hamas, but not for Hamas ideology, then that’s not a problem. There’s no ideology-free Hamas, just an outlawed terrorist organisation.
If the government were serious about security-checking potential refugees from Gaza, it’s an uncomfortable fact that the only country in a position to provide detailed intelligence advice about individuals will be Israel. Labor’s electoral fears shouldn’t get in the way of making those security checks rigorous. Otherwise, we will simply maximise ASIO’s caseload in a few years’ time. How does that benefit Australia?
Albanese is under pressure from the pro-Palestinian elements in Labor allied with extremist Greens. But appeasing that element comes at a price.
We have damaged our friendship, influence and leverage with Israel. Other Middle Eastern countries will note the fickleness and unreliability of our approach at a time when they are looking for consensus on dealing with Iran and its proxies. Would anyone imagine that Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Egypt currently regards Australia as a serious contributor to regional stability in the Middle East?
In Washington, Australia’s failure to show spine in the Middle East will damage us with the Democrats because they understand the threat presented by Iran. Washington knows the difference between geopolitics and woke posturing, even though it does both. If Donald Trump is elected, Australia’s Middle East policy will be a black mark. Our government has been negligent in dealing with the growing extremist cancer in our own society through the unholy alliance of clueless, manipulated progressives and extremist Islam. Just as in Europe, this will bring violence to our shores.
Labor’s “nuanced” diplomacy isn’t working. The need is to recalibrate relations with Israel. The government can disagree over the course and conduct of the war, but let’s aim to stay trusted partners with Israel in each other’s long-term strategic interest.
A version of this article appeared in The Australian 19 August. Anthony Bergin is also the lead author of ‘The Wattle and the Olive: a new chapter in Australia and Israel working together‘.