PETER RODGERS: The finding that Australians hold balanced sympathies over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict suggests there is scope for the government to pursue a more even-handed approach to its policies

A STRIKING ELEMENT of the Crossroads21 survey is that community attitudes towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are more balanced and stable than public commentary and debate often suggests. With 62% of respondents indicating that their sympathies lie “equally with both” sides, there is opportunity for the Australian government to pursue a more active and even-handed approach to the conflict. This would require putting policy above politics and thinking in more than short-term fixes.

No better example exists of political expediency trumping serious foreign policy than Scott Morrison’s announcement during the Wentworth by-election in October 2018 that the government would consider recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Clearly aimed at Wentworth’s Jewish voters, it did not work; the Liberal Party lost the seat for the first time ever, when independent Kerryn Phelps beat the Liberal candidate, and former ambassador to Israel, Dave Sharma. While the government regained Wentworth in the 2019 general election, it had by then produced a mishmash “policy” on Jerusalem that has done nothing to promote peace.  

The survey findings should also prompt reflection on Australia’s voting in the UN on resolutions involving Israel.

In 2016, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2334 by 14 votes to 0, with the US abstaining. The resolution described Israeli settlements as a “flagrant violation of international law”. Speaking at a menorah-lighting ceremony at Sydney’s Central Synagogue, then Prime Minister Turnbull labelled the resolution “deeply unsettling”.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop earlier declared that if Australia had still been on the Security Council it would likely have voted against the resolution. What an empty and futile gesture that would have been. Such posturing would have been primarily aimed at a domestic audience[MV2] .

Fast forward to December 2020 when the UN General Assembly adopted five resolutions dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Australia voted against all five. One of them, the “Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine”, passed with 145 in favour, 7 against, and 9 abstentions. The opposers were Australia, Canada, Israel, the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru and the US.