Dutton meets with Netanyahu in Israel
Ahead of his three-day trip to Israel, opposition leader Peter Dutton said the connections between Australia and Israel "are deep and abiding".
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog during his three-day trip to Israel in a show of strong support for Australia’s ally.
Dutton said he spent an hour in a high level meeting with Netanyahu and said the relationship between Australia and Israel is one that, “we need to rebuild, that we need to restore, and that we need to respect”.
“I sent a very clear message on behalf of the Coalition that should we win the next election, we look forward to the relationship becoming stronger and making sure that we can build off the platform of previous Prime Ministers, where the relationship has been close and has been strong and to our mutual benefit,” Dutton told Sharri Markson on Sky News.
Dutton’s trip to Israel was organised and facilitated by the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC). AIJAC executive director Colin Rubenstein said the Opposition Leader also met Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi during the trip.
“The meeting was very warm, lengthy and constructive, covering a broad range of issues including the security challenges facing both nations,” Rubenstein said.
“The fact that not only the Israeli Prime Minister but also Mr Dermer and Mr Hanegbi made the effort to meet with Mr Dutton at such a busy time demonstrates the significance to Israel of Mr Dutton’s visit, the appreciation and admiration Israel’s Government has for him and his Coalition, and the importance they attach to the long standing warm and mutually beneficial ties between and Australia and Israel.
“In particular they were acknowledging Mr Dutton’s demonstration of the courage and friendship to visit Israel at such a volatile time as well as the Coalition’s longstanding principled and moral supportive stance towards Israel.”
In a statement on Monday announcing his sudden visit to Israel, Dutton said the connections between Australia and Israel “are deep and abiding”.
“Today, Australia and Israel have a strong bilateral relationship traversing trade, agriculture, technology, security and more. It’s a relationship which will only grow stronger built around our devotion to democracy in a world where our values and way of life face old and new threats.”
One of Dutton’s first meetings in Israel was with President Issac Herzog, who he thanked “for a very friendly and productive meeting today in Jerusalem”.
“We discussed Australia’s and Israel’s close relationship and shared trust,” Dutton posted. “We both expressed our desire for this relationship between our two countries to continue to grow by building on our mutual interests and shared values.”
Dutton also met with other senior members of the Israeli government, as well as members of the community that were impacted by the October 7 attacks.
He was accompanied by Rubenstein and AIJAC executive manager Joel Burnie as part of its Rambam study visit program.
Dutton has been praised for his “moral clarity” for his decision to visit Israel.
His trip also included meetings with Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz, Speaker of the Knesset Amir Ohana, hostage families and survivors, as well as a visit to Israel’s ravaged south. He also met up with a Rabbinical Council of Victoria delegation currently in Israel and visited Yad Vashem.
“This is a time when Israel needs the support of its friends more than ever, so we are very grateful that Mr Dutton has taken the time and shown the courage, commitment and moral clarity to visit Israel to show his solidarity,” Rubenstein said.
Burnie, who administers AIJAC’s Rambam program, said, “The only way to fully appreciate the magnitude of the horrors of the October 7 atrocities and the challenges Israel is facing is to visit the country.
“It is important in this context to visit the actual sites of the attacks in Israel’s south, as Mr Dutton has done. His visit demonstrates the importance he places on Australia’s relationship with our Israeli allies.”
After hearing the harrowing account of October 7 from survivors and families of hostages, Dutton wrote, “A woman who spent countless sleepless nights held in Hamas’s tunnels. A father proud of his son who remains in captivity. Similarly, a son who dreams of reuniting with his father. And a brother desperately praying to see his brother and nephew again.
“Their stories of the horrors they experienced and the heartbreak they endure are deeply affecting. They have shared their grief and experiences so the world will remember Hamas’s barbaric attack. But beneath their stories is something truly remarkable. A spirit of strength, of solidarity, and of survival.”
Meeting Israel’s Foreign Minister in Jerusalem, Dutton expressed Australia’s “unequivocal condemnation of the terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7”.
“Australia and Israel have a significant bilateral relationship centred around trade and security,” Dutton said. “This relationship continues to grow, enhanced by our strong people-to-people links and shared devotion to democracy.”
Dutton also attended Yad Vashem, where he participated in a memorial ceremony and laid a commemorative wreath. At the end of the tour, he visited the Children’s Memorial dedicated to the 1.5 million Jewish children murdered during the Holocaust.
Signing the Yad Vashem guest book, he wrote, “Thank you for your dedication and devotion to the cause of honouring those who have fallen at the hands of evil. The task will never be complete and our commitment must be to stand with you, the people and State of Israel, to ensure the atrocities are never repeated.”
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