by Isi Leibler
 |
Australia’s election results are
good news for the Israel-Australia relationship. Labor party incumbent
Kevin Rudd, who held office for less than three months following a coup
against former PM Julia Gillard, lost in a landslide, bringing an end to
six years of Labor Government. Rudd is a political chameleon who
abandoned Australia’s long-standing pro-Israel position when he
previously served as Prime Minister from 2007 to 2010.
The victorious Tony Abbott of
the center-right Liberal party is an outspoken friend of the Jewish
State. He has pledged to improve relations with Israel, toughen the
government’s approach toward terrorist organizations and end financial
support for organizations connected to the Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions Campaign against Israel.
These results therefore
represent a sea change in Israel-Australia relations. Before assuming
office in 2007, Prime Minister Rudd portrayed himself as a Christian
Zionist. But in office, he launched a campaign to downgrade Australia’s
relationship toward Israel. He reduced Australian support for Israel at
the UN and adopted policies akin to those of hostile European countries.
Julia Gillard, who displaced him
in 2010, made efforts to revive the friendly relations with Israel. But
after Bob Carr was appointed as Foreign Minister in March 2012, the
relationship again began to decline.
Carr, a former State Premier,
was a founding member of the parliamentary Labor Friends of Israel and
had previously been considered a friend of the Jewish community.
However, in 2003, he awarded the Sydney Peace Prize to Palestinian
propagandist Hannah Ashrawi, and since then has become increasingly
critical, insisting that he understood better than Israelis what was in
their best interest.
After visiting Israel in August
2012, Carr intensified the campaign to solicit support for Australia’s
UN Security Council candidature by cozying up to Arab governments, even
sending a delegation to Iran.
Distancing Australia was
obviously crucial to win the Arab vote and he succeeded in compelling
Prime Minister Gillard to reverse her decision to vote against accepting
the Palestinian Authority as a member state at the UN General Assembly,
stating: “I don’t apologize for the fact that Australia has interests
in the Arab world. If we had voted no, that would have been a heavy blow
to our interests in over 20 countries. The truth is they all see this
as a bedrock issue.”
Foreign Minister Carr stunned
the Australian Jewish community a few weeks ago when he told Moslems at a
Sydney mosque, “I’ve been to Ramallah, I’ve spoken to the Palestinian
leadership, and we support their aspirations to have a Palestinian state
in the context of a Middle East peace…we say unequivocally, all
settlements on Palestinian land are illegal under international law and
should cease.”
Australia’s Jewish community
leaders condemned the statement and the AIJAC, the Australian Jewish
lobby equivalent of AIPAC, accused Carr of having “altered a
long-standing bipartisan policy in Australia by repeatedly asserting a
contentious and disputed legal claim…which…potentially undermines
progress towards a negotiated two state resolution to the conflict.”
Australia’s long-standing
friendship with Israel dates back to Australian troops serving in
Palestine in both World Wars. From 1948 until recently, both the Labor
and Liberal parties consistently allied themselves with the Jewish state
(the only major aberration was Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s hostility
during the Yom Kippur War).
Both parties also supported
broader Jewish concerns. In 1962, Australia became the first country in
the world to raise the issue of Soviet Jewry at the UN, condemning
anti-Semitism and calling for the right of Jews to emigrate. Successive
governments made major global contributions towards ameliorating the
plight of Soviet Jews. Australia was directly involved in efforts to
rescind the infamous 1975 UN resolution that equated Zionism with
racism. It also served as an intermediary for Jewish leaders seeking to
promote diplomatic relations between Israel and Asian countries.
Australian Jewry, which numbers
approximately 120,000, includes the highest proportion of Holocaust
survivors of any diaspora community and is one of the most Zionist
Jewish communities in the world. 15,000 Australians – more than 10% of
the entire community - have made aliya and strengthen the relationship.
The “Lucky Country” enabled hard
working Jewish immigrants, many of whom were penniless Holocaust
survivors, to prosper. Whilst a Jewish underclass exists, a number
emerged to become the leading commercial and industrial giants in the
nation, many of whom were appointed to prominent roles in public life
including two Governor Generals. The immigrants created a thriving
Jewish cultural and religious community establishing a broad range of
Jewish day schools ranging from Chabad to Reform.
Community leaders are united and
do not hesitate to confront their government when they consider it
biased or guilty of applying a double standard against Israel. The
community can take much of the credit for its country’s historic support
for Israel.
Traditionally, most Jews tended
to support Labor rather than the Liberal party which was originally
perceived as being aloof towards Jews and even anti-Semitic. However
this has changed in recent years and Jews are more inclined to direct
their support according to individual economic and social predilections.
This week’s election is a case
in point. Even though Israel was not a major electoral issue, it is
believed that because of the government’s hostility toward Israel,
Australian Jewish voters went even further than the general public in
expressing a broad lack of confidence in Prime Minister Rudd and the
Labor leadership.
The community came out strongly
for the Liberal party and Tony Abbott, who has been Leader of the
Opposition in the House of Representatives since 2009. Abbott has been a
passionate friend of Israel since his first visit to the country as a
young man and subsequently as an MP prior to being elected leader of the
party. He is a protégé of former Prime Minister John Howard, recognized
as having been one of Israel’s greatest champions amongst world
statesmen. It is anticipated that the new government headed by Abbot
will foster robust support for Israel on par with that of Canadian Prime
Minister Stephen Harper.
It is also ironical that,
whereas the former Labor Government abandoned Israel in order to procure
Arab support for its candidature to the UN Security Council, the Arabs
will have effectively guaranteed the appointment of what will in all
likelihood be the most pro-Israel government on the Council.
The Australian Jewish community
leaders now face the challenge of restoring Australia’s bi-partisan
policy towards Israel. Jewish organizations, particularly AIJAC, must
focus their efforts on restoring ties with Labor leaders. Despite the
powerful influence of 500,000 Moslems in a number of key electorates,
most Labor MPs retain positive attitudes the Jewish state and the
prospects for restoring Labor’s commitment to Israel are good.
This column was originally published in the Jerusalem Post and Israel Hayom
Isi Leibler may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.com. His website can be viewed at www.wordfromjerusalem.com
Source: http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=4793
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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