Sharma: Iran war objectives met despite ceasefire concerns

Many of the military objectives of the Iran war have been met, with the Islamic Republic’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs “significantly set back,” Senator Dave Sharma says.

In an interview with The AJN, Sharma – who is Shadow Assistant Minister for International Development as well as Shadow Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs – said Iran’s ability to export terrorism had been “drastically diminished” despite concerns within Israel that goals stated at the start of the war had not been achieved.

“I think Iran’s ability to export terrorism, foment instability and ignite conflict in the region has been drastically diminished, and that, in and of itself, is a good thing,” Sharma said following Tuesday’s ceasefire announcement by US President Donald Trump.

The former Member for Wentworth said the war had accelerated convergence between Gulf states, Israel and moderate Arab states against Iran, which was now “much more isolated”.

“Iran has basically created enemies of the Gulf states who were previously keeping a relationship with them open and trying to walk both sides of the street,” Sharma said. “That change in regional configuration will be a positive force, and it gives some of those Gulf state leaders more legitimacy with their people to move closer to Israel.”

Sharma, who served as Australia’s ambassador to Israel from 2013 to 2017, said he had been “pleasantly surprised” by the Albanese government’s support for the joint US-Israel operation.

“I was expecting a statement that was calling for de-escalation, for restraint, and sort of condemning all sides,” Sharma said. “Rather than saying, you know, the United States and Israel have a right to act here. The Albanese government, to their credit, largely echoed that position.”

He said the government’s shift appeared to be driven by revelations that the IRGC was actively supporting terrorist acts on Australian soil. However, Sharma said the government’s handling of the Iran war stood in “stark contrast” to its approach to the Gaza conflict, where it had treated its relationship with Israel “abominably”.

“I think they have gone out of their way to damage and degrade that relationship, to insult and denigrate Israel’s conduct, to put Israel in the dock in a way that they never put Hamas in the dock,” he said.

He said Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s decision not to visit the Gaza envelope during her Israel visit was “a gross insult” and “a calculated snub”.

“It was basically a message saying we don’t think your suffering is important, or we don’t think what happened that day is worthy of our attention and my time,” Sharma said.

Sharma described the Albanese government as “criminally negligent” in its handling of rising antisemitism before the Bondi Beach terror attack.

“I think they fundamentally failed to take it seriously,” Sharma said. “The fact that it’s taken 15 lost lives and the worst terrorist attack in Australia’s history on Australian soil to do that, I think, is a terrible indictment of this government.”

He said experts had warned that tolerance of escalating antisemitic acts posed “a terrible risk of something awful happening”. “Each of those steps, I think, was perfectly foreseeable, and the government should have acted much sooner to basically curtail this,” he said.

Sharma said a “very grim silver lining” of the Bondi Beach terrorist attack was that Australians of all backgrounds and faiths now realise that antisemitism isn’t just a Jewish problem.

“I think their tolerance for some of what had been tolerated before has has drastically diminished,” he said. “And I think people realise that antisemitism is not only a threat to the Jewish community, it’s a threat to the Australian National Project and the Australian national identity.”

Sharma said he had been “troubled” by Dennis Richardson’s departure from the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Royal Cohesion but remained cautiously optimistic it would produce meaningful outcomes.

“I’ve been encouraged by the early statements from the royal commissioner Virginia Bell, where she’s been quite clear that the focus – despite the attempts of people to make it about something else – is about antisemitism,” he said. “I hope the Royal Commission will provide a long overdue reckoning with some of those deficiencies that have been allowed to persist in Australia for far too long.

“And I would encourage all your all your readers and viewers, to make submissions, share their personal perspectives … I think it’s important that the Royal Commission hears about the lived experience in Jewish Australia.”