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The Australian
5 hours ago
- The Australian
Israeli intelligence has helped the West
Israel's furious reaction to Sir Keir's move underlines one of the disadvantages of acting hastily to recognise a non-existent state, the future of which is up in the air, without borders or leadership, in defiance of a longstanding democratic ally. In recent years Israeli intelligence has given crucial help to Britain's spy agencies about Iranian-backed threats that pose as big a danger to the UK as Russia does. Mossad, Israel's highly effective spy agency, is believed to have supplied crucial information that thwarted an alleged Iranian-linked terrorist plot in London. It led to two of the largest counter-terror raids in Britain in recent years, when five men were arrested in connection to an alleged plan to target the Israeli embassy in Kensington, west London, The Times reports. In Australia in February 2018, Peter Dutton, the Coalition government's home affairs minister, thanked Israeli authorities for an intelligence tip-off that helped police stop a terrorist plot to blow up an Etihad Airways flight leaving Sydney bound for Abu Dhabi in July 2017. The plot involved smuggling a bomb inside a meat grinder on to the plane. 'This Etihad flight was almost blown out of the sky and it would have resulted in hundreds of people losing their lives, so we are very grateful for the assistance Israel provided in that matter,' Mr Dutton said. Israel's intelligence gathering had 'enormous' capacity, he said, and its relationship with ASIO and the Australian Federal Police was important. It should not be taken lightly. And the news on Friday that the Israeli cabinet has ratified Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's controversial and risky plan to occupy Gaza for about five months does not negate the folly of Western nations' moving towards recognising a Palestinian state prematurely. Mr Netanyahu's plan involves evacuating Gaza City and sending a million people into temporary humanitarian facilities to be set up by Israel further south. Mr Albanese has said Australian recognition would be dependent on several conditions, namely that Hamas had no role in a future Palestinian government and that a Palestinian state would not pose a security risk to Israel. Yet, as Greg Sheridan writes in Inquirer, 'those conditions mean a resolution of all the final status issues, in which case Australian recognition wouldn't come until a peace deal was signed between Israel and Palestine'. Hamas's triumphalist response to Britain's plan to recognise a non-existent Palestinian state – claiming 'the fruits of October 7' had been vindicated – shows the terror group is not planning to go away, despite being heavily depleted by Israel. And its raison d'etre is destruction of the Jewish state. Given those obstacles, and the importance of our bilateral relationship with Israel, Australia has no reason to blindly follow France, Britain and Canada at the UN General Assembly next month and push ahead with recognition of a Palestinian state. As Mr Albanese says, his government makes decisions on behalf of Australia, a sovereign nation. He has long wanted to see Israelis and Palestinians live side by side in peace and security, in a two-state solution. That major step must be taken at an optimal time, which is not now. Diminution of democratic nations' relationships, including intelligence sharing, with Israel – a stalwart of the Western alliance for 75 years, – would be a detrimental rupture for the free world.
ABC News
7 hours ago
- ABC News
Albanese embraced by NZ Prime Minister Chris Luxon as two countries flag increased defence cooperation
China's presence in the Pacific and a push for peace in the Middle East were at the centre of talks between Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and New Zealand PM Christopher Luxon on Saturday. Both prime ministers were keen to present a united front on global uncertainty as they stood side by side in chilly Queenstown for annual talks. After both countries signed a joint statement condemning Israel's plan to further expand its military operations in the Gaza Strip by taking over Gaza City, the leaders expressed their concern during their joint press conference. Mr Albanese reiterated Australia's desire to see a ceasefire, as well as more aid flowing into the besieged Palestinian territory and the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.. Despite the United Kingdom, France and Canada all proposing to recognise a Palestinian state in September at a major United Nations meeting, Australia and New Zealand have not put a timeline on when they will look to do so. Before formal discussions began, Mr Albanese was welcomed to New Zealand with a traditional Māori pōwhiri ceremony, and was embraced by Mr Luxon. It's the seventh time the two leaders have met as prime ministers, but they've known each other since long before that, when Mr Luxon was the head of Air New Zealand and Mr Albanese was Australia's transport minister. The official sit-down went for about an hour, after which the pair took a strictly limited six questions from the Australian and New Zealand press pack. The leaders confirmed they had discussed China and security in the Indo-Pacific, while also noting they had both recently visited China — a significant trading partner to both nations. They also made sure to emphasise their commitment to the Pacific family and its security. On the home front, both leaders signalled a desire to deepen defence ties between the two countries, with Mr Luxon saying he wanted Australia and New Zealand's militaries to operate as one ANZAC force. Despite a consistent push from the Trump administration for countries to boost their defence spending, both Mr Albanese and Mr Luxon stood by their current commitments to lift their spending to about 2 per cent of GDP. However, Mr Luxon did signal that he hoped to raise that figure, if possible. Mr Albanese's trip to New Zealand is only brief, lasting about 24 hours. While it's his third visit since becoming prime minister in 2022, he has not travelled to Queenstown since he was a young backpacker. He'll get a very different experience of the sites this time around — Mr Luxon and his wife are expected to spend Sunday morning showing Mr Albanese and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, the city's stunning surrounds. Mr Albanese and Mr Luxon are both keen to promote tourism between their two countries, given Australia and New Zealand are each other's biggest tourism markets.
News.com.au
8 hours ago
- News.com.au
Kyiv won't give up land, says Zelensky as US-Russia summit confirmed
Ukraine won't give up land to Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky warned early on Saturday, hours after Washington and Moscow agreed to hold a summit in a bid to end the war. Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will meet in the far-north US state of Alaska, near Russia, on August 15, to try to resolve the three-year conflict, despite multiple warnings from Ukraine and Europe that Kyiv must be part of the negotiations. Announcing the summit on Friday, Trump said that "there'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both" Ukraine and Russia, without providing further details. "Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier," Zelensky said on social media hours later. "Any decisions against us, any decisions without Ukraine, are also decisions against peace. They will achieve nothing," he said, adding that the war "cannot be ended without us, without Ukraine". Three rounds of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine this year have failed to bear fruit, and it remains unclear whether a summit would bring peace any closer. Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with millions forced to flee their homes. Putin has resisted multiple calls from the United States, Europe and Kyiv for a ceasefire. Zelensky said Kyiv was "ready for real decisions that can bring peace" but said it should be a "dignified peace", without giving details. The former KGB officer in power in Russia for over 25 years has also ruled out holding talks with Zelensky at this stage. Ukraine's leader has been pushing to make it a three-way summit and has frequently said meeting Putin is the only way to make progress towards peace. - Far away from war - The summit in Alaska, which Russia sold to the United States in 1867, would be the first between sitting US and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021. This was just nine months before Moscow sent troops to Ukraine. Zelensky said of the location that it is "very far away from this war, which is raging on our land, against our people". The Kremlin said the choice was "logical" because the state close to the Arctic is on the border between the two countries, and this is where their "economic interests intersect". Moscow has also invited Trump to pay a reciprocal visit to Russia later. Trump and Putin last sat together in 2019 at a G20 summit meeting in Japan during Trump's first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since January. On Friday, Putin held a round of calls with allies, including China and India, in a diplomatic flurry ahead of the summit with Trump, who has spent his first months in office trying to broker peace in Ukraine without making a breakthrough. The US president has earlier imposed an additional tariff on India for buying Russia's oil in a bid to nudge Moscow into talks. He also threatened to impose a similar tax on China, but so far has refrained from doing so. Away from the talks, across the more than 1,000-kilometre (600-mile) frontline, Russia and Ukraine continued pouring dozens of drones on each other in an overnight exchange of attacks on Saturday. As a result of that, a bus carrying civilians was hit in Ukraine's frontline city of Kherson, killing two people and wounding six.
