Benjamin Netanyahu is “in denial” over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Anthony Albanese claimed after a phone call with the Israeli leader, saying frustration with Israel’s military campaign in the besieged territory was part of Australia’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state.
The prime minister’s escalating public criticism of Israel comes as the French president, Emmanuel Macron, overnight welcomed Australia’s commitment to recognise Palestinian statehood at the UN general assembly in September.
“I spoke with prime minister Netanyahu. He, again, reiterated to me what he has said publicly as well – which is to be in denial about the consequences that are occurring for innocent people,” Albanese told ABC TV.
Albanese yesterday said Australia’s pledge to recognise a Palestinian state was “predicated” on conditions agreed to by the Palestinian Authority, which included no role for terror group Hamas in a future government. The prime minister said the international community could block Hamas from standing in future elections in Palestine, but refused to say whether Australia would revoke its plans to recognise if such conditions were not met.
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“You can [stop Hamas from standing in elections] if you have the Arab states in the Middle East all speaking as one, as well as the Palestinian Authority, as well as the international community. Yes, you can,” he told Nine.
In a press conference, Albanese went on to say that violence in the region, including Israel’s planned military occupation of Gaza City, “just cannot continue into the future without an end point”.
“The international community is coming up with an end point, which is, how do we resolve this? How do we get a permanent security position?” he said.
Macron, who declared in July that France would recognise Palestinian statehood at the General Assembly, said Australia was “joining the momentum” of a global push toward resolving the crisis in Gaza.
“This reflects our commitment to the two-state solution and to the need to collectively rebuild a political pathway, without which there can be no peace and security for all,” he wrote.
There are a raft of unanswered questions including how the Palestinian state will be formed, how it would be demilitarised, and where Australia would establish an embassy. Albanese and the foreign minister, Penny Wong, shrugged off repeated questions in media interviews on Monday and Tuesday about how Australia would respond if the Palestinian Authority’s commitments were not met, or if they would reverse their recognition pledge.
“What we will also do is work with the international community to hold the Palestinian Authority to its commitments,” Wong told the ABC’s 7.30 program on Monday night.
The Coalition opposition is critical of the Labor government’s decision, claiming it rewards Hamas, and that the government has failed to answer outstanding questions.
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, said on Tuesday the government had not clarified its position on how those conditions will be met.
“[Albanese] actually refuses to say what will happen if the conditions that he sets out for recognition are not met,” she told 2GB radio.
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“Those conditions are unlikely in many views to be met. One of them is that there can’t be a role for the terrorists in any future Palestinian state, but Hamas is there, they’re on the ground, they’re in control.”
The former Liberal prime minister Scott Morrison claimed Jewish Australians would feel a “sense of betrayal” at the government’s shift.
“It will prove a hollow gesture, like for all those who have taken this step before it. None should take any comfort in it. Meanwhile the suffering will regrettably continue in Gaza and the hostages will remain in captivity,” Morrison wrote on his website.
Israel’s government has been deeply critical of Anthony Albanese’s decision, and also said Labor is rewarding Hamas.
In a statement on X, Israel’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, Sharren Haskel, said the move was about domestic politics, not peace.
“50 of our hostages remain in Hamas’s dungeons of torture, being starved to death – being forced to dig their own graves, yet the Australian government has decided now is the right time to reward the monsters of October 7 with recognition of a Palestinian state,” she wrote.
“This decision by Australia won’t change anything in Israel or Gaza, but let’s be quite clear, this is all about domestic politics, not peace.”
