Australian Government Strengthens Support For Israel

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Posted by: Aussie Dave in Aussie Dave November 25, 2013 6 Comments 137 Views

With the goings-on in Geneva taking front stage, this bit of significant news from Australia almost slipped by unnoticed.

Tony Abbott quietly shifts UN position to support Israeli settlements, upsetting Palestinians

The Abbott government has swung its support further behind Israel at the expense of Palestine, giving tacit approval to controversial activities including the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories.

Acting on instructions from Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, government representatives at the United Nations have withdrawn Australia’s support for an order to stop ”all Israeli settlement activities in all of the occupied territories”.

While 158 countries supported the UN in calling for an end to Israeli settlements, Australia joined eight other countries, including South Sudan and Papua New Guinea, in abstaining from voting. Labor governments under Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard condemned the settlements.

Many within the international community regard the expansion of Israeli settlements as an act of hostility towards Palestinians, hampering the likelihood of peace.

The UN resolution calls for ”prevention of all acts of violence, destruction, harassment and provocation by Israeli settlers, especially against Palestinian civilians and their properties”.

The Abbott government has also indicated it no longer believes Israel, as an ”occupying power”, should be forced to comply with the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

At the UN meeting, 160 countries supported ordering Israel to ”comply scrupulously” with the conventions. Australia was one of five countries to abstain. Six countries voted against the resolution, including Israel, the US and Canada.

A section of the Geneva Conventions, which Australia no longer supports in regard to Israel and Palestine, states ”the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies”.

The UN votes have largely gone unnoticed during the past fortnight as the Australian media has fixated on the Indonesian spying crisis.

In keeping with the Abbott government’s tight hold on information, there have been no news conferences about these changes in Middle East policy.

Nor did the Abbott government consult the Palestinian community before making the changes, according to the head of the General Delegation of Palestine to Australia, Izzat Abdulhadi.

”It is very regrettable,” Dr Abdulhadi said. ”There was no transparency in their approach.”

Former foreign affairs minister Bob Carr described Australia’s withdrawal of support for Palestine as ”a shame, in the deepest sense”.

The executive director of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, Colin Rubenstein, said he ”emphatically [welcomed] the government’s principled leadership in changing these votes, reverting to the Howard/Downer position”.

Ms Bishop’s spokeswoman said the minister was on a plane and could not respond to questions.

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek said she was surprised to hear about the changes to Middle East policy through the media with no formal confirmation from the government.

”It’s quite extraordinary that [the government] would make such a large change without reporting back to Australians,” Ms Plibersek said on the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday.

For the record, this is the same Tanya Plibersek who had this to say during the 2002 Iraq war debate:

“I can think of a rogue state which consistently ignores UN resolutions whose ruler is a war criminal – it is called Israel and the war criminal is Ariel Sharon..Needless to say, the US does not mention the UN resolutions that Israel has ignored for 30 years; it just continues sending the money.”

But “mellowed” her position.

As for Bob Carr, the less said about him the better.

Update: Interestingly enough, there is another, earlier version of this report by the SMH’s Jonathan Swan. And the differences between the two versions are telling (see bold).

Coalition supports Israel on settlements in occupied territories

The Abbott government has swung its support further behind Israel at the expense of the Palestinian territories, giving tacit approval to controversial activities including the expansion of settlements on occupied territory.
Acting on instructions from Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, government representatives at the United Nations have withdrawn Australia’s support for an order to stop “all Israeli settlement activities in all of the occupied territories”.

While 158 countries supported the UN in calling for an end to Israeli settlements, Australia joined eight other countries, including South Sudan and Papua New Guinea, in abstaining from voting. Labor governments under Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard condemned the settlements.

Many within the international community regard the expansion of Israeli settlements as an act of hostility towards Palestinians, hampering chances of peace.

The Abbott government has also indicated it no longer believes Israel as an “occupying power” should be forced to comply with the 1949 Geneva Convention.

At the UN meeting, 160 countries supported ordering Israel to “comply scrupulously” with the Convention. Australia was one of five countries to abstain. Six countries voted against the resolution, including Israel, the US and Canada.

The UN votes have largely gone unnoticed during the past fortnight as the Australian media have fixated on the Indonesian spying crisis. In keeping with the Abbott government’s tight hold on information, there have been no press conferences about these changes in Middle East policy.

Nor did the Abbott government consult the Palestinian community before making the changes, according to the head of the General Delegation of Palestine to Australia, Izzat Abdulhadi. “It is very regrettable,” Dr Abdulhadi said.

“There was no transparency in their approach.”
Former foreign minister Bob Carr described Australia’s withdrawal of support for Palestine as “a shame, in the deepest sense”.

But the Abbott government has the enthusiastic support of Australia’s Israel lobby. The head of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, Colin Rubenstein, said he “emphatically welcome[d] the government’s principled leadership in changing these votes, reverting to the Howard/Downer position on these resolutions“.

Fairfax Media asked the Foreign Minister to explain her reasoning behind the policy changes, but Ms Bishop’s spokeswoman said the minister was on a plane and could not respond before deadline.

Note the following:

• In the earlier version, Swan refers to the “Palestinian territories.” He changes it to “Palestine” later on. Looks to me like he wanted to acknowledge the existence of “Palestine” as a state, and not the “weaker” territories formulation
• He changed “on occupied territory” to “in the occupied territories.” I am not sure why, but perhaps to use the more common expression.
• He added an entire paragraph: “The UN resolution calls for ”prevention of all acts of violence, destruction, harassment and provocation by Israeli settlers, especially against Palestinian civilians and their properties”, perhaps to paint a more damning picture of the “settlements”
• He removed the sentence “But the Abbott government has the enthusiastic support of Australia’s Israel lobby.” I am guessing he did that to avoid any accusations of antisemitism, considering the loaded nature of the term “lobby”, and it’s common usage by antisemites when speaking about Jewish influence and control.