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Foreign Minister Penny Wong rebuked Israel’s behaviour in a private meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu’s top diplomat in Australia, days after its embassy claimed Gazans were not starving.
Wong held talks with Ambassador Amir Maimon in her Canberra office on Thursday at the end of a week of intense debate on the worsening crisis in Gaza and global momentum to recognise Palestinian statehood.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Israeli Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon.Credit: Matthew Absalom-Wong
It was the second time in three days that Maimon was spoken to by the government, after a lower-level meeting with departmental officials on Tuesday.
Multiple sources familiar with Thursday’s meeting, who were not permitted to speak publicly, said Wong reiterated Australia’s position on the situation in Gaza. That position includes urging Israel to comply with international law in its conflict with Hamas and allowing more food into Gaza. Australia has said it will recognise a Palestinian state in time, as long as conditions are met.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday labelled the Israeli embassy’s denials of Gazan starvation “beyond comprehension”.
Wong’s office and the Israeli embassy declined to comment.
Canada and the UK vowed this week to recognise a Palestinian state, with conditions, at a United Nations meeting in September.
Albanese’s government has reiterated this week that recognition would be tokenistic unless there was a real prospect of creating a stable, demilitarised State of Palestine and maintaining Israel’s safety.
“It’s an announcement you only get to make once,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on ABC on Friday, “We are wanting to make sure that whatever we do is done in a way that most helps bring about a lasting peace.”
Albanese has left the door open to making the formal move on recognition at a key September gathering of the United Nations in New York, when global attention will be focused on efforts to end the conflict.
The Prime Minister told 7.30 on Thursday that there had been “significant advances” towards the creation of a Palestinian state and said Australia would make the decision at a time when it would do the most good for a two-state solution.
Arab League nations, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, called on Hamas to disarm this week, and the Palestinian Authority has promised reform.
Australia has made repeated criticisms of the Netanyahu government as the conflict in Gaza has dragged on, putting Maimon at odds with Labor.
The diplomat was reportedly dressed down by Wong’s then-assistant minister, Tim Watts, at the beginning of Israel’s campaign against Iran proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon mid-last year, a campaign that proved successful for Israel.
SBS News first reported that Maimon was spoken to by Australian foreign affairs bureaucrats on Tuesday, the same day Albanese lashed denials from Maimon’s deputy, Amir Meron, about starvation in Gaza.
Days later, the Zionist Federation of Australia, issued a statement saying it was troubled by reports of hunger in Gaza and the suffering of civilians.
During the week, opposition MP and former ambassador to Israel, Dave Sharma, said there were reasonable arguments about Hamas’ contribution to hunger in Gaza, but that civilians deserved to be fed.
Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash said the Coalition had significant concerns about any willingness to recognise a Palestinian state before a two-state peace process had been completed.
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“The Coalition has been consistently clear that there can be no recognition of a Palestinian state with Hamas still in control of Gaza, and Hamas can have no role in governing a Palestinian state,” Cash said on Wednesday.
As Australia gears up to recognise Palestinian statehood, US President Donald Trump eased fears that doing so would be punished by his administration.
On Thursday, he warned that Canada’s declaration on Palestine would hurt its ability to negotiate with the US on tariffs. But on Friday, he claimed it was not a “dealbreaker”. Australia has remained on the bottom rung of America’s tariff regime as one of the few nations with which the US runs a trade surplus.
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