Extract from ABC News
Analysis
Isaac Herzog has been invited to Australia in the wake of December's deadly Bondi terror attack, which targeted Jews. (Reuters: Hollie Adams)
Even as Israeli President Isaac Herzog was accusing the thousands of Sydney demonstrators protesting his visit on Monday of wanting to delegitimise the existence of the world's only Jewish state, the Israeli government was taking concrete actions in the West Bank designed to "continue to kill the idea of a Palestinian state".
In doing so, Herzog just made life a lot more difficult for the Albanese government, which last September belatedly turned its stated support for a two state solution in the Middle East into recognition of the state of Palestine.
Much of the focus on the distressing and violent scenes in Sydney on Monday centred on just where the blame lay between the police and protesters for the scenes that ricocheted around the world on social media. Men engaged in evening prayer appeared to be yanked away by police and an officer appeared to repeatedly punch a protester who had his hands in the air.
This was the physical manifestation of some of the division that we have seen with Herzog's visit, instead of simply the community healing that Albanese had said he hoped would occur when the Israeli head of state came here in support of the Jewish community, which has said it felt "heard" when ths invitation was issued.
Witness vision appears to show police punching protester multiple times.
A debate without nuance
After the initial horror over events in Israel on October 7, 2023, in which 1,219 people were killed, outrage grew over the Israeli government's retaliatory actions over two and a half years in Gaza which left an estimated 70,000 dead and Israel facing a charge of genocide, brought by South Africa in the International Court of Justice. Israel denies the accusations of genocide.
Then came the antisemitic shooting assault on a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach, killing 15 people in Australia's deadliest act of terrorism.
All these events have now left wide open the question of where Australia policy goes next in such a febrile political environment.
Herzog, who a UN Special Commission of Inquiry found made comments which incited the commission of genocide, an allegation he denies, said on Monday that what takes place at demonstrations like the ones seen around the country in the past 48 hours amounts to efforts to undermine and delegitimise Israel's existence, which contradicts the spirit of Australia's long alliance with his country. The commission's report is not legally binding.
But what is happening in Gaza has put an intense focus on the actions of Israel.
Israel continues to dismiss criticisms as either being antisemitic or failing to understand the state's need to defend itself.
There is little nuance in the position of either the Israeli or Palestinian sides in this bitter conflict.
Australians began protesting the Israeli president's visit before he had arrived. (AAP: Callum Godde)
Israel tightens grip over occupied West Bank
Australia's position in support of Israel's right to exist has never extended to wiping out the rights of Palestinians in the small pockets of territory left to them when around 800,000 of them were expelled from their homes in what is known as the Nakba at the time the state of Israel was created in 1948.
Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Palestinian Territories, including Gaza, has been found to be illegal under international law. In a landmark July 19, 2024 advisory opinion, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories illegal, ruling that its presence, settlement expansion, annexation and exploitation of natural resources violated international law. Australia, along with many other nations have long accepted that view.
Since a ceasefire was declared in October last year, a further 500 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in the Gaza Strip.
That is in the much-reduced area of the strip — around 42 per cent — not occupied and razed to the ground by Israel. There is no serious timeline for Israel to withdraw from its current control of that territory.
And on Monday, Israel made another move to exert its control of the West Bank, where settlers have been aggressively throwing local Palestinians off their land, assaulting residents, demolishing houses and killing crops with pesticide.
The West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, would form the largest part of any future Palestinian state but is seen by many on Israel's religious right as Israeli land.
As Herzog embarked on his Australia visit, Israel's security cabinet announced plans to tighten Israel's grip over the occupied West Bank which would allow Jewish Israelis to buy West Bank land directly, and extend greater Israeli control over areas where the Palestinian Authority exercises power.
The announcement sparked international outrage with the United Nations chief António Guterres saying he was "gravely concerned" and Saudi Arabia and seven other Muslim-majority countries condemning the move, which would pave the way for even more settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Guterres warned the changes were "eroding the prospects for the two-state solution", spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement.
And that, quite clearly, is the plan.
DFAT affirms objection
Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the moves saying "we will continue to kill the idea of a Palestinian state".
He said that the changes aimed at "deepening our roots in all regions of the Land of Israel and burying the idea of a Palestinian state".
So what does Australia say about this, when the Israeli president is right here on a state visit?
Israeli President Isaac Herzog lays a wreath at Bondi Beach.
When asked by the ABC whether the government had a response it sent a quote attributable to a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson:
"Australia objects to the Israel Security Cabinet's decision to expand Israel's control over the West Bank," the statement said.
"This decision will undermine stability and security.
"The Australian government has been clear that settlements are illegal under international law and a significant obstacle to peace. Altering the demographic composition of Palestine is unacceptable.
"A two-state solution remains the only viable path to long-term peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike."
'Accelerating attempts at its illegal annexation'
The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, Qatar, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey "condemned in the strongest terms the illegal Israeli decisions and measures aimed at imposing unlawful Israeli sovereignty", a Saudi statement said.
It called them an attempt at "entrenching settlement activity, and enforcing a new legal and administrative reality in the occupied West Bank, thereby accelerating attempts at its illegal annexation and the displacement of the Palestinian people".
The Israeli measures also envisage transferring authority over building permits for settlements in the Palestinian city of Hebron — the West Bank's largest — from the Palestinian Authority to Israel.
There may be more questions about our government's position when Herzog visits Canberra today.
There was good intent in the invitation to Herzog to visit Australia to support a Jewish community in grief and shock in the wake of the appalling events in Bondi.
But it is hardly surprising, in the wake of the actions of the Israeli government over the past two-and-a-half years that the visit would spark angry protests, not because of antisemitism, but because — just like the Australian government — many protesters believe in the two state solution, or at least that the rights of Palestinians are equal to those of Israelis.
– With AFP
Laura Tingle is the ABC's Global Affairs Editor.
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