‘Shameful’: Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister lashes Wong, Albo over sanctions on Ben-Gvir and Smotrich

Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel has slammed the Australian government for its sanctions on two Israeli government ministers — widely regarded as far-right political figures — as “shameful”.

She said leaders needed to decide what side of history they were going to be on, amid the Albanese government’s growing distance from the Trump Administration over Israel.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong took 24 hours to state they supported US President Donald Trump’s strikes targeting three of Iran’s nuclear facilities conducted on the weekend.

Speaking in the Hague ahead of the annual NATO leaders’ summit, which President Trump will attend on Tuesday, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte rejected any assertion that the US had violated international law with its nighttime raids on Iranian targets.

In an exclusive interview with The Nightly, Ms Haskel said Israel’s military campaign against Iran would continue, despite President Trump claiming the US military had “totally obliterated” Iran’s ability to make a nuclear bomb.

Independent assessments have not been able to determine or verify the President’s claims about the impact made on Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz.

Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, called for “maximum restraint”.

“Military escalation not only threatens lives, it also delays us from taking the diplomatic path,” Mr Grossi said.

Iran returned fire, targeting a US base in Qatar, but Mr Trump thanked Tehran for the forewarning and said no one had been hurt as a result.

“Hardly any damage was done,” he said in a social media post.

“Most importantly, they’ve gotten it all out of their ‘system’ and there will, hopefully, be no further HATE.”

President Trump stared down isolationist figures in his support base and Administration in conducting Saturday’s precision strikes, prompting key figures, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, to promise the US was not trying to engineer regime change in Iran.

But he appeared to contradict them by musing on social media several hours later when he said: “It’s not politically correct to use the term, ‘Regime Change,’ but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!’

“MIGA” is an adaptation of his Make America Great Again slogan.

Ms Haskel said that Israel still had unfinished business in Iran, but that toppling Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was not part of that.

“We still need to eliminate quite a few of the capabilities of Iran to make sure that it doesn’t pose an existential threat to Israel,” Ms Haskel said.

She said this included Iran’s ballistic missile program, not just the sites where it is believed to be enriching uranium.

“Just in recent months, they have been building up their capability to the production of 3000 missiles a year,” she said.

“And missiles that can actually reach Europe as well — this is an existential threat, not just in Israel but in the entire world.”

“We’ve said that until we eliminate the double existential threat of the nuclear military program and the Iranian ballistic missile program, that’s when we will stop.”

She insisted regime change was not Israel’s goal, but that it may occur as a result.

“The nuclear military program and the ballistic missile program – these are the two goals of this operation,” she said.

“And we will stop until we are capable of achieving that as well.

“Regime change is not part of it.

“Whether that will be a byproduct of that does not necessarily depend on Israel, but this is not one of Israel’s goals.”

She said that weakening Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah in Lebanon led to the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, but that was not what Israel had set out to accomplish.

She said Australia’s handling of the Middle East had failed to stop Iran’s nuclear intentions.

“For years now, the international community, including Australia, have been trying diplomatically to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon,” she said.

“Obama did it, Biden did it and Trump tried to do it.

“Did it work? No, they just deceived you and lied to you.”

I don’t support extremist ministers, but Australia’s sanctions were ‘shameful’

Ms Haskell accused the Australian government of surrendering to a noisy and aggressive part of the public by imposing sanctions on two Israeli government ministers.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke with Foreign Minister Penny Wong last week, has criticised the sanctions as doing nothing to bring home the hostages Hamas captured on October 7 or advance a ceasefire.

The foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, the UK, Norway and New Zealand jointly sanctioned Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich for “inciting violence against Palestinians”.

The pair live in settlements in the West Bank, land separate from Gaza but also considered to form part of any future Palestinian state.

The pair have also advocated that Palestinians be encouraged to leave Gaza for third countries.

“Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights,” the joint statement from the five nations said.

“Extremist rhetoric advocating the forced displacement of Palestinians and the creation of new Israeli settlements is appalling and dangerous.”

Ms Haskell, who demonstrated in the streets against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before Hamas launched their deadly raids on southern Israel, said she was no fan of Mr Ben-Gvir and Mr Smotrich, but that Australia’s move was “absolutely shameful.”

“I’m not going to defend some racist remarks that some of the ministers have said in the past, I’m not their spokesperson,” she said.

She said, unlike in many of Israel’s neighbours, the ministers were entitled to free speech.

“They can say what they think, even if to some ears it’s racist, even to my ears as well,” she said.

“But there is no comparison between that and the discourse and the sayings and the slogans of some of our enemies.

“It’s incomparable.”

She said if the Australian government was going to sanction based on actions, then it needed to sanction the entire Israeli government.

“If it’s because of something they said, I can give you a list of 200 representatives from so many countries that should be sanctioned well before those two ministers,” she said.

“I’m not a fan of those ministers, I have to say.

“And if they chose to sanction them because of something they did then they need to sanction the entire Israeli government because the actions that the government have taken were decided by the entire government.”

She denied that the joint action showed Israel was losing the support of its friends in the international community and said that, as a politician she understood the public pressure governments were under.

“And sometimes you surrender to a very aggressive and loud voice,” she said.

“I think many of the leaders need to decide what side of history they are on.”

Two-state solution would only reward Hamas

Asked when the killing, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 50,000 Palestinians who are trapped in the Gaza Strip and cannot leave, would stop, she said Israel did not support a two-state solution right now, because it would only serve as a reward to Hamas.

“If there’s going to be a two-state solution right now, it means that Hamas is going to be rewarded with a state,” she said.

She said Israel was forced into the war on October 7 and that: “We’ve been defending ourselves in the only way we can.”

“I lived in Australia for quite a few years, I love the country, and you guys are extremely lucky, you’re surrounded by sea,” she said.

“You’re very protected.

“It’s very different to life here in Israel, we are in a tough neighbourhood where our neighbours are calling out in the open for the annihilation of our country and the murder of our people.

“That’s a tough reality.

“We were forced into the war with a declaration of war by Hamas, by Iran, and we are attacked on seven different fronts.

“Try and imagine Australia fighting on seven different fronts, seven different entities, I mean it’s insanity.

“Is it pretty? No.”