Leadership
Dutton has shown Australia's ally that its fellow democracy has its back.
As Israel continues to fight for its existence against one Iranian proxy, Hamas, while the threat of all-out war against another, Hezbollah, escalates, the response from the two sides of mainstream Australian politics could not be more stark.
Both Labor and Liberal have shown the decency to condemn outright the horrific Hezbollah rocket attack on the Israeli town of Majdal Shams, which is more than can be said for the Greens, whose leader Adam Bandt, in the vilest of tweets, responded by calling for sanctions on Israel.
But the similarities end there.
In just the past week, the NSW Labor conference called on the government to recognise a Palestinian state, Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced Magnitsky-style sanctions on Israeli individuals for violence against Palestinians in the West Bank while ignoring Palestinian terrorism against Israelis there, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese released a mealy-mouthed and contradictory statement with his Canadian and New Zealand counterparts that will achieve nothing and reeks of domestic political considerations.
In contrast, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton didn’t pander to both-siderism, try to wish into existence a country that has met none of the usual prerequisites for statehood, or make antithetical statements from the comfort of a nation that has no external threats.
Instead, he got on a plane and travelled to Israel. Simple.
In doing so, Dutton has shown Australia’s ally that its fellow democracy has its back. By travelling to Israel’s Hamas-ravaged south – which Wong declined to do during her visit – he has shown a willingness to listen to and truly understand Israel’s pain. He has stretched out his hand at the moment when our ally, fighting an existential war on several fronts and increasingly short on friends internationally, needs it most.
Now, the Australian Jewish community is a broad political tent, and our views are informed by a range of issues, including domestic ones. We do not seek to pass general political comment here.
But on Israel, the difference in the approach of Australia’s two main parties is clear. Labor are trying to please too many people – including factions and voters with an outright hostility to the Jewish state – and as a result are pleasing no one.
Liberal leader Dutton, meanwhile, has taken an unapologetic stand.
That’s leadership.
comments