Albanese clashes with top US diplomat Mike Huckabee over Australia’s recognition of Palestine

Anthony Albanese and a top US diplomat in Israel have clashed over Australia’s engagement with the Trump Administration over its decision to recognise Palestinian statehood.

Washington’s ambassador to Israel said the White House was “disappointed” by Australia’s pledge on Palestine, adding it was made worse by Canberra failing to provide a “heads-up” on the landmark policy shift.

Mike Huckabee claimed Donald Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio were furious about the upcoming policy shift and labelled it “not okay” and “ill-timed” in an interview on ABC’s 7.30 program on Thursday night.

“There’s an enormous level of disappointment and some disgust,” Mr Huckabee said.

“It’s not okay, and it was ill-timed. I think the timing has been very hurtful to any prospects of negotiating a settlement in Gaza with Hamas.

“We would have expected that there would have been some heads-up. There wasn’t. There was no communication with the United States.”

When asked if the matter had been discussed with the US President, Mr Huckabee said “absolutely”.

But the Prime Minister and his team denied the assertion that there was no forewarning in Friday’s media appearances, saying US memos released contradicted Mr Huckabee’s claim.

Senior Labor Minister Mark Butler pointed to a US State Department release minutes before Mr Albanese’s announcement on Monday as proof Australia had prior communication with Washington.

In the same press conference, Foreign Minister Penny Wong had flanked the PM and said as a courtesy to the ally she’d told Secretary of State Marco Rubio prior the announcement.

“There is a read-out from the state department about that conversation. So, I am not quite sure why the Ambassador to Israel says that,” Mr Butler told Sunrise on Friday morning.

“This is the US Ambassador to Israel. His job is to manage the relationship between America and Israel, not the Ambassador to Australia.”

Mr Albanese also cast aside the criticisms and questioned what weight Mr Huckabee’s words carried.

“He is an ambassador of a country, not Australia… Israel. My job is to represent Australia’s interests,” he said.

“We’re a sovereign nation, and he’s entitled to put his views, but we’re also entitled to put our views. We didn’t do it shyly.”

He added that he had also flagged his intentions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a half-hour phone call last Thursday in which he said the foreign leader had offered up “no political solution”.

The PM said he hoped the “huge momentum” to recognise an independent Palestinian state at the 80th General Assembly of the UN in New York next month would be a “circuit breaker”.

“The whole world — Australia, along with like-minded countries — is combining to say we need to advance that. It can’t continue to just keep going.

“You break the cycle of violence by isolating Hamas, by not continuing to just do what has been happening since October 7.”

The PM’s Palestine declaration had prompted a political storm in the days that followed, including sharp criticisms from the Opposition and Jewish groups.

A string of contradictory statements released from several senior figures in the listed terrorist group Hamas only added fuel to the political fire.

Nine newspapers had published a statement from imprisoned Hamas co-founder Hassan Yousef on Wednesday, hailing the PM as a hero after the government’s recognition of Palestine.

But a post to the group’s official Telegram channel later disavowed the statement, saying Yousef had been detained in an Israeli jail since October 19, 2023 with no communication. Nine later clarified the endorsement had been released by his office, which often issues statements on his behalf.

The denial was backed by Hamas foreign relations chief, Istanbul-based Basem Naim on Thursday afternoon, who doubted the statement in an interview with AAP.

By the evening, Hamas media director Ismail Al-Thawabta had clarified the group’s position to ABC, saying the group did praise the PM’s recognition move.

“We welcome Australia’s decision to recognise the state of Palestine, and consider it a positive step towards the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people,” Mr Al-Thawabta said.

The PM seized on the confusion, accusing the media and the Opposition of feeding into Hamas “propaganda”.

But Opposition leader Sussan Ley had claimed the Hamas endorsement had shown Mr Albanese was the one who was “making a real mess of this”.

Shadow Defence Minister Angus Taylor on Friday added that being “praised by a terrorist organisation” was “not a good endorsement” of Australia’s foreign policy.

“This is the wrong policy, the preconditions have not been met. We all want to see peace in the Middle East, but frankly, this is not the pathway to get there,” he told 2GB.

Mr Huckabee also defended the Israeli Defence Force’s military conduct as “the most ethical” despite claims of mass starvation, displacement and people being killed while searching for aid.

Instead, he claimed Hamas was putting “its civilians in front of targets that the Israelis announced in advance they’re going to hit”.

It comes as deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel on Friday denied reports of starvation in Gaza, saying Palestinian funeral congregants were not “looking as if they’re starving” and “actually look quite well”.

“When you look at those images . . . you see well-fed people. I’m not saying there isn’t a humanitarian crisis, but there’s a long way to go and describe it as a famine or starvation,” she told ABC radio.

Ms Haskel went on to criticise the “extreme” protesters and “useful idiots” who protested Israel’s military actions in Gaza during the Sydney Harbour Bridge March for Humanity.