Australia shows scrutiny of Netanhayu and Hamas condemnation can co-exist

Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Wednesday made clear that international patience is running out with “extreme” elements of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government blocking the road to peace.

Australia’s decision to join the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Norway to sanction National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sent the message that “you have ignored the international community, and we do not tolerate it,” she said.

The move to slap travel bans and financial penalties on the senior Israeli officials was months in the making and came after alarm about their incitement of violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank was consistently raised and dismissed.

Senator Wong was at pains to stress in her carefully worded justification the distinction between the narrow targeting of the far-right ministers and ongoing Government support for Israel and its security.

“We want a strong friendship with the people of Israel … We want a peaceful, secure future for the people of Israel, but we do take issue with the actions of the Netanyahu government,” she said.

“We don’t believe that the actions of that government are conducive to ultimately a peaceful settlement in the Middle East.”

In a press conference following the announcement, Senator Wong repeatedly referenced the “Netanyahu government” rather than the Israeli government.

She urged the rejection of “any attempt to hold the Australian Jewish community responsible for the actions of the Netanyahu Government. And I again say we reject all forms of anti-Semitism.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also underscored the move as a “specific decision” based on the actions and “expansionist rhetoric” of the two ministers that had promoted violence in the West Bank and was a “serious impediment” to a two-state solution.

The UK’s Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer went further, warning the two-state construct was imperilled by “extremists” who were “not even supported by the majority of Israelis.”

The ministers lead the ultra-nationalist fringe parties Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) and Religious Zionism that prop up the governing coalition’s eight-seat majority, making them powerbrokers with outsized influence over Mr Netanyahu’s political survival and a significant sway in the direction of the war.

Mr Smotrich is a member of Israel’s Security and Political Cabinet and he was behind the approval last month of 22 new Jewish settlements - the biggest expansion in decades of settlements widely seen as illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

He has used his position to encourage violence against Palestinian communities in the area, warning that “we will turn you into ruins like in the Gaza Strip”.

Mr Ben-Gvir has previously directed his ministry to “massively” arm extremist civilian settlers with thousands of assault rifles, pledging to “turn the world upside down so that towns are protected.”

Both have also advocated for continued fighting in Gaza, with Mr Ben-Gvir calling for the occupation of the entire Strip and to encourage the “migration of Gazans to countries around the world.”

The decision to sanction them has been criticised by Australian Jewish community leaders and condemned by the United States.

But to imply, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio did, a “notion of equivalence” with the terrorist group Hamas, wrongly presumes that any attempt to hold the Netanyahu administration to account should be interpreted as anti-Israel.

Australia and its remaining Five Eyes allies on Wednesday underlined that Israel’s security was front and centre of their action, showing scrutiny of the Netanyahu administration and condemnation of Hamas can exist at the same time.

“Hamas is a terrorist organisation that seeks the destruction of the state of Israel. They can have no role in any future Palestinian state. They are condemned,” said Senator Wong.

“What we are doing is acting in support of a two-state solution, which is the opposite of what Hamas wants.”

Giving a nod to Australians’ frustration the country had little chance of “moving the dial on our own,” she argued, “this has never meant we can do nothing.”

“We don’t pretend that these actions alone will bring about peace, what we can do is contribute, and that is what we are seeking to do.”