Australia’s relationship with Israel is in tatters after the government summoned the Israeli ambassador to a meeting in Canberra to warn the Jewish state over a potential conflict with Hezbollah.
Ambassador Amir Maimon was informed by Assistant Foreign Minister Tim Watts 10 days ago that the Albanese Labor government would not support Israel if war erupted in southern Lebanon, in an extraordinary diplomatic rebuke.
Sources told News Corp that Mr Maimon’s relationship with Australia’s Malaysian-born lesbian Foreign Minister Penny Wong has been “in the freezer” for months, and that relations between the two countries are at an all-time low.
Lebanon’s ambassador has also been summoned in recent days and warned against escalation as border clashes between the Israeli Defence Force and Hezbollah intensify.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesperson Simon Birmingham described the diplomatic dressing down as an “outrageous abandonment” of Israel.
“The Albanese government needs to come clean on the status of its support for Israel, which has repeatedly shifted and weakened despite terrorist groups still holding Israeli hostages, and seeking the destruction of Israel,” Senator Birmingham told The Australian.
“If this meeting did take place as reported then Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong need to explain why they didn’t front up to tell Israel themselves, and why they’re hiding the true extent of their abandonment of Israel from Australians.”
Home affairs spokesperson James Patterson told Sky News: “Penny Wong needs to step up today and explain exactly what it was that her assistant minister Tim Watts meant when he hauled in the Israeli ambassador and told him that if our friend and ally found itself in a war with Hezbollah, a listed terrorist organisation, that they could not count on our support.”
