Home Australia Peter Dutton says the PM has put Australia ‘at odds’ with its allies on Israel. The truth is far more complicated

Peter Dutton says the PM has put Australia ‘at odds’ with its allies on Israel. The truth is far more complicated

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When US President Joe Biden urged Israel not to strike Iranian nuclear sites this week, it was taken by many in the international community as the latest sign of his administration’s diminishing influence over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government.

The US administration has repeatedly warned Israel, since October 7 last year, against a confrontation with Hezbollah, or even worse, an offensive war against Iran.

But after the series of escalating and devastating attacks on Hezbollah, and in Lebanon, in recent weeks, it has become clear that Netanyahu is not interested in listening to its major ally, and Biden was limited to trying to constrain Israel’s actions at the margin, rather than control them.

Israel’s moves against Hezbollah are widely seen to have crippled the terror group. The embattled Israeli prime minister’s standing domestically has been lifted by both these successes and the general success of the Iron Dome in repelling a major attack by Iran.

But the US — and other G7 countries — are clearly alarmed.

The Jerusalem Post reported US deputy secretary Kurt Campbell earlier this week saying the administration was “seeking to align its position with Israel on any response to Iran’s attack but also recognises the Middle East is on a ‘knife’s edge’ and a broader escalation could imperil both Israeli and US interests”.

The paper reported Campbell had repeated to a virtual event hosted by Washington-based think tank Carnegie Endowment, “the US view that what Tehran has undertaken was ‘deeply irresponsible’ and that there must be a ‘return message'”.

“I think we tried to underscore our support for some of the actions that Israel has taken,” he added. “We have a real wariness about an extended or substantial ground set of operations in Lebanon.”

But does this difference between US support for Israel and wariness about operations in Lebanon feature in our political debate in Australia? Does the perception that the US now has limited capacity to influence Israel — with all that that entails — penetrate our discussion?

An argument against the government — it just isn’t true

For several days this week, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has been arguing that there is a clear division between the Albanese government and the US and other major Western powers over what is happening in the Middle East.

“It is a dangerous part of the world and when people want to exterminate a race of people, when they want to annihilate the whole country, you can understand that Israel has a right to defend herself, and as President Biden pointed out, and President Macron and others, they are fully supported by the United States and unfortunately this government here has taken a position which is at odds with some of our key partners,” Dutton said on Friday.

“When the government says that Israel should lay down its weapons and enter into … an amnesty or however [deputy prime minister and defence minister] Richard Marles described it yesterday — that is at odds with our key coalition partners.

“I think the problem with the government’s message at the moment is that they have decided that they want domestic political opportunity to trump our national interest.

“I think Australians will condemn the prime minister for that. It’s clear the prime minister at the moment [is] being led by the Greens and paranoid about the Labor vote fracturing and going to the Greens in inner Sydney and Melbourne. That’s not in our country’s best interest.

“The prime minister should put our national interest first instead of his own political interest. At the moment he’s not doing that.”

At a particularly dark and dangerous point of global tension, and amid tensions in the Australian community which are also on a knife edge this weekend as we approach the first anniversary of the appalling massacre of Israeli civilians by Hamas, such language is hardly helpful. Particularly since what the opposition leader is accusing the prime minister and deputy prime minister of is just not true.

What Richard Marles had said the previous day was that “we’re exercising our international voice to support a ceasefire”.

“I mean, the United States and a number of countries around the world have called for a 21-day ceasefire. We added our voice to that call,” he told ABC radio on Thursday.

“The continued violence in the Middle East is obviously giving rise to an enormous threat to civilian life. I think the international community is desperate to see an end to this violence and certainly that’s how we’re exercising our international voice.”

Asked whether he agreed with Biden that Israel’s military should respond with a proportional response, Marles said, “Well, Israel clearly has a right to defend itself. Of course it does.”

The prime minister said on Friday that “we have worked closely with President Biden and we have signed joint statements with the United States, with Canada, the European Union Italy, Germany, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, all calling for a de-escalation”.

“Of course, Israel has a right to defend itself, but as we, and the US and others have said, the region needs de-escalation. The cycle of violence cannot continue without end. That is something we will continue to work with partners on.”

The complex reality the world is trying to navigate

The opposition leader’s position — which has also seen him accuse the prime minister of “appeasement” — has been amplified repeatedly in the News Ltd broadsheet The Australian this week with screaming headlines saying “Signs of Weak Leadership”, “White-Flag Albanese” and “War and Appeasement”.

Both the opposition leader’s rhetoric, and the headlines, suggest a position by our allies — and a division from that in the position of our government — that doesn’t accord with reality.

That reality is of an ever-widening conflict between two terrorist organisations on the one hand, and an increasingly militant state that is ignoring international calls for restraint, including from its most powerful ally.

Whatever the complex rights and wrongs of the conflict, and the appalling loss of innocent life, that is the reality in which Australia must work out its best national interest, and its realistic capacity to influence events.

Instead, the discussion about how Australia should navigate its position is being pushed into very different territory.

Anything short of unqualified support for the actions of the Netanyahu government is being portrayed as weakness when, in fact, the government’s position is nothing more than that it has the same limited capability of influencing the tide of events as the United States.

The land invasion of Lebanon by Israel has changed the nature of the conflict in the Middle East and therefore the nature of the pressures created in communities in Australia.

Authorities are trying to grapple with what to do with those displaying symbols of Hezbollah, which puts them into dangerous territory in terms of laws passed with the support of both sides of federal parliament just a year ago relating to the display of those symbols in circumstances which may incite or advocate violence or hatred based on race and religion.

A joint statement by all our police forces on Friday said they respected the right to peacefully protest and assemble in Australia, but said there would be no tolerance for illegal behaviour or violence.

Both at home and abroad, we are imperilled by other people’s intractable divisions.

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