Israel has put Labor and its national conference on notice, fighting back against changes to the party’s draft platform that water down accountability for terror group Hamas and lays most of the blame for the current conflict on the Jewish state.
The draft of the official ALP policy platform ratchets up criticism of Israel’s “occupation” of the Gaza Strip, removes a previous demand that Hamas must disarm and have no role in a future Palestinian state, and steps up commitments for international courts.
It explicitly opposes the “annexation of Palestinian territory” while urging Israel to “bring its illegal settlement activity and the occupation to an end”.
In an extraordinary intervention, the Israeli embassy in Canberra noted that while this was just a draft platform, it put too much responsibility for the conflict on Israel while “giving insufficient to the decisions, conduct and continuing obligations of the Palestinian leadership and terrorist organisations such as Hamas”.
“The root cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict lies in our neighbours’ refusal to accept the existence of the state of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, in any borders,” the embassy said.
“The Jewish people are indigenous to the land of Israel, especially Jude and Samaria.
“If the international community seeks lasting peace, it must focus on holding the Palestinian leadership accountable for terrorism and incitement, which are the real obstacles to peace.”
It said that “any reduction of pressure on Hamas and its redirection towards Israel will continue to empower the terrorist organisation”.
The Albanese government has distanced itself from Israel since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war following the October 7 terrorist attacks and recognised a Palestinian state to great criticism. The government has also applied sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank and voiced criticism.
The Israeli embassy said settler violence against Palestinians was a “reprehensible but marginal phenomenon”.
“‘Settler violence’ receives disproportionate attention,” the embassy said.
“It does not reflect the identity or values of the state of Israel. The government of Israel and the settler movement itself condemns it, and security forces work to apprehend these forms of illegal behaviour.”
The Israeli embassy also accused international courts like the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice of “bias against Israel” and suggested Australia could get caught up in US efforts to “dismantle” the ICC.
“The United States has called out the lack of credibility and jurisdiction of the ICC and its affiliates, even drawing up new sanctions against this body, citing its threat to American sovereignty,” it said.
“Actions under consideration by the US include increasing scrutiny of nations that refuse to reject the ICC’s false authority while relying on US assistance. This could include Australia.”
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