Understand Israel, urges Abbott

PETER KOHN AND NAOMI LEVIN

OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott’s warning to Kevin Rudd not to follow Britain’s lead and expel an Israeli diplomat has driven a wedge between the Government’s and Coalition’s positions on Israel.

Together with Opposition foreign affairs spokesperson Julie Bishop’s call for restraint over January’s passport forgeries, Abbott’s comments last weekend indicate an emerging Middle East policy different to Rudd’s.

It also looks as though the Middle East could become a hot political issue in the run-up to this year’s federal election, with Bishop describing any potential diplomatic expulsion as “a vote-grabbing exercise”.

“It would be highly inappropriate [for the government] to take any action in the absence of evidence,” Bishop told The AJN on Monday.

She predicted the Government may release details of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) inquiry into the forgeries to distract the electorate from the influx of asylum seekers.

“Regrettably, that is typical Kevin Rudd … he does seek to find distractions to divert from government failures,” Bishop said.

Abbott entered the fray after Rudd last week said the Government had not yet decided how to respond to the allegations of faked Australian passports. An AFP investigation into Israel’s possible involvement is underway.

While the Liberal leader said he does not condone the forgeries, he gave a sober assessment of Israel’s vulnerability and said any Israeli involvement should be viewed in that context.

The forgeries, which included four Australian passports, were apparently used to eliminate key Hamas terrorist Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel in January. Fingers have been pointed at Israeli spy agency Mossad over the assassination.

“We can never forget that Israel is a country under existential threat in a way Australians find difficult to understand. It’s also the only pluralist democracy in the Middle East,” Abbott told The Weekend Australian. “It strikes me that it would be an overreaction to expel an Israeli diplomat.”

Abbott has been a long-time advocate of shared values between Canberra and Jerusalem.

The Coalition leader’s bid to supersize his commitment to Israel over the passport allegations has placed pressure on Rudd to preserve his government’s credentials on Israel, while the Jewish State weathers a crisis with Washington over new housing in Jerusalem.

In a flurry of developments, the AFP investigation was announced after Foreign Minister Stephen Smith slammed any Israeli involvement as “not the act of a friend”, and Israeli Ambassador Yuval Rotem was publicly named and shamed. Australia then abstained from a United Nations vote on the Goldstone report that Canberra was expected to oppose, but denied the vote change was linked to the passport affair.

Now Israel supporters fear the eviction of an Israeli diplomat could signal a true cooling in Australia’s relationship with Israel.

Abbott and Bishop’s rallying call followed the Prime Minister’s wait-and-see approach, which he conveyed on ABC Radio last week. It is known that Rudd has received a British report that concludes it is “highly likely” Israel had misused Britons’ passports.

Meanwhile, former prime minister Malcolm Fraser has backed calls for an Israeli diplomat to be expelled from Australia.

In an interview on ABC Radio on Monday, Fraser said Israel’s conduct was “totally and absolutely unforgivable and that Australia’s disapproval should be registered by an action not less than that which the British took”.

“I think there’s been a long history, if you like, of double standards. People will not do, in relation to Israel, what they would do if the same action was conducted by some other country.”

Zionist Council of Victoria president Dr Danny Lamm told ABC presenter Jon Faine that Fraser has “an unhealthy obsession” with Israel.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Robert Goot also responded, saying “Now is the time to support and not isolate or punish Israel for either its policy on construction in Jerusalem or any unproved transgression regarding passports.”