“The double standards and bias against Israel shown by Foreign Minister Penny Wong and the Albanese government risks trashing its relationship with Israel,” says Indigenous Friends of Israel International co-founders Norman and Barbara Miller.
“Israeli Ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon was reportedly summoned to a meeting in Canberra in June and warned his nation could not expect Australia’s support if it went to war with listed terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon. This is despite Israel being attacked almost daily by Hezbollah since October 7. Yet ambassadors from other nations have not been treated so poorly.
“Will Wong and the Albanese government call in Iran’s Ambassador to Australia, Ahmad Sadeghi, for posting on X that the ‘Zionist plague’ should be wiped out, and he was ‘looking forward to such a heavenly and divine response.’ (The Australian, 6/8/24)
“This is a call for genocide and the Ambassador for Iran should not only be hauled in to explain but should be sent home in disgrace.
“He has not only probably breached Australia’s hate speech laws, but this is not diplomacy and reflects the view of a terrorist state.
“It is internationally accepted that Iran is behind the war against Israel using its proxies Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iranian Revolutionary Guard trained militias in Syria and Iraq.
“No wonder our terrorism threat level was raised to ‘probable’ for the first time since 2014 when we have such incitement to terror from the Iranian embassy as well as pro-Hamas preachers and demonstrators.
“It was a diplomatic insult to Israel to impose Australia’s own investigator on Israel and interfere in a foreign country’s domestic military inquiry. Let’s see if other nations do the same to Australia.
“Adding insult to injury, Foreign Minister Penny Wong has blatantly misrepresented the results of the Binskin inquiry into the drone strikes that killed World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid worker Zomi Frankcom and six others in Gaza.
“The facts don’t fit her narrative of evil Israel and innocent Hamas.
“The Israel Embassy in Canberra has called out the Foreign Minister’s misrepresentation after Penny Wong said the strike was ‘intentional.’ The embassy said Wong’s statement also omitted crucial details and the level of cooperation and openness of the IDF.
“The Israel Embassy noted that Air Chief Marshall Binskin’s fact-finding report noted that ‘the IDF had similar legal views, standards and controls in place to mitigate the risks of war as the ADF.’
“Former defence chief Mark Binskin revealed there were armed men in the WCK convoy that ‘gave the appearance of the presence of Hamas,’ and they may have unknowingly hired security guards with links to Hamas with one guard firing into the air.
“Binskin also reported that WCK had broken its own rules by using armed guards. The WCK also did not abide by its own communication protocols as revealed by the report.
“Israel admitted responsibility quicky and dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others. This is in comparison to Australia taking 12 years to deal with similar allegations in Afghanistan with no commander dismissed let alone prosecuted.
“Jewish people have a right to a state in their ancient homeland and to be able to sleep in their beds safely at night without fear of being murdered, raped, tortured, kidnapped and their children and elderly slaughtered before their eyes.
“Hamas has promised more and more October 7’s yet the Albanese government keeps calling Israel to be restrained. What about calling Hamas to be restrained? What about calling Hezbollah to be restrained? What about calling Iran to be restrained?
“Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and is supposedly our friend and ally and this is how we treat them? Let’s remember former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke’s warning:
“‘If the bell tolls for Israel, it won’t just toll for Israel, it will toll for all mankind.’”