In brief
- Israel's ambassador to Australia has rejected accusations his embassy sought to influence Australian domestic politics.
- The Israeli embassy issued a statement ahead of Labor's national conference criticising several elements of its draft platform.
Israel's ambassador to Australia has defended his embassy's unusual public intervention ahead of Labor's national conference last month, rejecting suggestions it sought to influence the party's platform and insisting it was merely providing information to decision-makers.
In a rare step, the Israeli embassy issued a lengthy statement ahead of the conference in Adelaide, taking issue with Labor's proposed position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The embassy argued Labor's draft national platform placed responsibility for the conflict on Israel while overlooking the role of Hamas and Palestinian leadership.
It sparked criticism from pro-Palestinian advocates that Israel was inappropriately interfering in Australian politics.
Speaking to SBS Hebrew on Thursday, Israeli ambassador Hillel Newman said "we had no intention and no actual intervention".
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"All we did was we put forth facts for the decision-makers to have before them in making educated decisions," he said.
"We are just a resource of some kind in giving the information. We did not intervene in the convention itself. We do not intervene in the process. We just brought information to the knowledge of the decision-makers.
"The Palestinian envoys here also had some things to say about the ALP platform and convention, and no-one said it's foreign intervention," he said.
At the time, the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN), an advocacy group, condemned what it called an "extraordinary intervention" by the Israeli embassy and described it as "an unacceptable attempt by a foreign government to influence Australia’s domestic political processes".
"If the Israeli regime believes Labor's platform is too critical while Gaza is being destroyed, perhaps it should reflect on its own conduct rather than attempting to pressure an Australian political party," APAN president Nasser Mashni said.
Mashni said the draft platform fell "far short of taking appropriate action to recognise the Palestinian genocide".
Israel has been accused of genocide by a United Nations inquiry, an allegation it denies. Its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is the subject of an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, which Israel rejects.
What happened last month?
The Labor platform is debated at its national conference to determine the party's positions on a broad range of issues. Its 2026 draft reflected shifts and an expanded position on Israel and Palestine since its last iteration in 2023.
The government decided to recognise Palestinian statehood in September last year.
The proposed platform condemned Israeli settler violence in the West Bank and "illegal settlement activity" as well as new Israeli laws making the death penalty the default punishment for Palestinians who murder Israelis.
It also included explicit support for the ICC, pushed for greater recognition of Palestinian rights, and said it unreservedly condemned "terrorism and violent extremism, including as perpetuated by Hamas".
In its July statement, the Israeli embassy noted that Labor's policy motions were still in draft form, and said it would "continue to engage constructively with the Australian Labor Party through the usual diplomatic channels".
The embassy took issue with the draft platform's stance on settler violence, the ICC and other issues, and also suggested it represented a "reduction of pressure on Hamas".
A day after the embassy's statement, Foreign Minister Penny Wong reiterated the government's position that Hamas must disarm in order for peace in the region.
"Hamas continues to damage the prospects of a two-state solution and reject Israel’s right to exist," she said.
"Australia remains unequivocal in its condemnation of Hamas, including for its atrocities on October 7, 2023, and its ongoing acts of terror. The Australian government reaffirms that Hamas must disarm and play no role in the State of Palestine."
Delegates at the Labor conference ultimately adopted the platform's positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without significant changes or debate.
Newman told SBS Hebrew the embassy "appreciated" that Wong had "re-emphasised the important aspect of the disarming of Hamas".
Last week, United States President Donald Trump announced that Hamas had agreed to "complete disarmament", but the group says Israel would need to stop its attacks in Gaza and withdraw troops before it will do so. Israel has continued to launch strikes into Gaza this week, killing dozens of people.
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