Australia’s naivete and ignorance and its betrayal of Israel

It is with amazement and disbelief that one reads the joint statement issued on August 11 by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong, announcing Australia’s intention to recognise a non-existent Palestinian state.

Can these really be the leaders of a serious country who are genuinely aware of the realities of the Middle East, or are they perhaps merely trying to assuage and pamper an aggressive and uncontrollable pro-Palestinian and violent anti-Israel lobby in Australia’s parliament and mollify unruly pressure on the streets of its cities?

Australia’s intention to “recognise the State of Palestine at the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in September to contribute to international momentum towards a two-state solution, a ceasefire in Gaza and release of the hostages” is indicative of considerable lack of political and legal realism, even to the point of naïveté.

Both the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister are surely well-advised by their advisers and by Australia’s world-renowned international lawyers, that there simply exists no such entity as a “State of Palestine” that can be recognised. By the same token, they are presumably advised that UN General Assembly resolutions have absolutely no legally binding status and are nothing more than the political viewpoints of those states supporting them.

As such, the declared intention to recognise a non-existent state of Palestine is merely pulling wool over the eyes of those wishing to believe such a futile and ill-advised political act.