There are risks in Australia's row with Israel, but it's Netanyahu who is trashing the relationship

The Guardian

11 hours ago

When Anthony Albanese announced Australia would formally recognise Palestinian statehood earlier this month, the prime minister let slip he had already discussed the decision with Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu.
A call between the leaders had been expected, but no statement or readout was released after it took place. Speaking alongside the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, a few days later, Albanese said it had been a civil conversation.
But any civility with Netanyahu appears lost, after Labor's decision to cancel a rightwing Israeli minister's visa to visit Australia. Israel later cancelled visas for diplomats representing Australia to the Palestinian Authority.
Sign up: AU Breaking News email
Overnight, Netanyahu launched a diplomatic broadside against Albanese, calling him a 'weak leader,' before making public a letter alleging terror group Hamas had been rewarded by Labor.
'It is not diplomacy, it is appeasement,' Netanyahu wrote in the letter, unsurprisingly handed to Sky News. He alleged Labor's actions would boost 'those who menace Australian Jews' and encourage 'the Jew-hatred now stalking your streets'.
Labor had been expecting blowback from the increasingly isolated Netanyahu. Albanese accused him of being in denial about starvation in Gaza last week, and Netanyahu has adopted a similar playbook with the leaders of Britain, Canada and France.
But the force of the comments was felt in Canberra. The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, lashed Netanyahu for blowing people up and leaving children hungry. Albanese moved to de-escalate tensions, urging respect and pointing back to a resolution passed in parliament after 7 October, which noted Israel had the right to defend itself.
'How it defended itself mattered, and it needed to do that within international law, and there needed to be respect for innocent lives,' Albanese said.
The government made a conscious decision to move in concert with international partners on recognition, highlighting Netanyahu's unwillingness to end the bloodshed, while calling for Hamas to release the 50 remaining hostages.
Netanyahu has ignored international calls not to extend Israel's fighting further into Gaza. He and senior officials employ weasel words to deny starvation and the targeted killing of journalists.
Empowered by the hard right ministers propping up his government, Netanyahu is credibly accused of war crimes, credibly accused of corruption and appears prepared to trash international relationships as if his actions are above criticism. Worse, he again seeks to conflate criticism of the war with the scourge of antisemitism.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry's Alex Ryvchin said his comments were unseemly.
'I think both parties are acting contrary to the interests of the people they're seeking to represent and serve,' he said.
But the situation presents some immediate risks.
After the rise in antisemitic attacks after 7 October, Jews feel threatened in Australia. Any further deterioration in relations with Israel or escalation in the war will only add to their fears of more vandalism and violence.
Equally, the breakdown with Netanyahu could spread to Albanese's relationship with Donald Trump, one leader still sticking with Israel's prime minister. The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, raised this prospect.
Bruce Wolpe, a senior fellow at the United States Studies Centre, said it was unclear whether Australia's recognition of Palestine was a core or subsidiary issue for Trump.
'If it's a core issue, then there could be retaliation, involving trade issues,' he warned.
Wolpe told Guardian Australia that France and the UK had not been punished for recognition, meaning Australia would be in a special 'pernicious category' if retaliation were forthcoming.
He called Netanyahu's statement 'wholly unwarranted, grievous in its content and not commensurate'.
At home, Albanese knows Australians want the war to end and are unlikely to judge him harshly because of Netanyahu's attack.
Internationally, the question is more complex ahead of the UN general assembly and Albanese's first meeting with Trump later this year.
But Israel's opposition leader, Yair Lapid, might have the correct assessment.
He observed on Wednesday that the thing that most strengthens democratic leaders is confrontation with the 'politically toxic' Netanyahu.
'It is unclear why Bibi is rushing to give the prime minister of Australia this gift,' he said.