This article first appeared in The Australian on 14 May 2024.

‍

‍

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has just overturned decades of foreign policy bipartisanship in Australia’s approach to the Middle East. In doing so, she has rewarded terrorist group Hamas for its atrocities of October 7. She has put Australia in the dubious company of Russia, Iran, North Korea, Syria and China. And she has sent a signal that the pathway to advance the Palestinian national cause is not through peaceful negotiations, but through terror and bloodshed.

‍

Wong has subsequently claimed that Australia’s vote at the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, in support of a resolution urging recognition of a state of Palestine, is somehow in support of efforts to “broker peace”. But the resolution makes no mention of Hamas, the initiator of this conflict. It does not condemn Hamas’s terrorist attacks of October 7. It does not demand Hamas release the hostages it continues to hold, a clear war crime. How can it be said that this resolution is in support of peace if it does not address the obstacles to settling the current conflict?

‍

And in remarks that could have been drafted by George Orwell’s Ministry of Truth, Wong has claimed the resolution is a “clear rejection of the goals and methods of Hamas”. It is quite the opposite: the resolution rewards the goals and methods of Hamas. Attempting to downplay the significance of the policy shift, Wong has claimed the resolution is merely about granting some “modest additional rights” to the Palestinian delegation at the UN. But it goes much further than this. The operative part declares that Palestine should be “admitted to membership” and urges the UN Security Council to do so.

‍

The fundamental requirements for Palestinian statehood have not been met. They are no further advanced than they were in 2012, when Palestine was admitted to the UN as a non-member observer state (in a resolution on which the Gillard Labor government abstained).

‍

The only thing that has changed since that time is that Hamas unleashed the worst loss of life on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, with its attacks of October 7. And the only possible interpretation to put on this upgrade in Palestinian status at the United Nations is that Hamas’s terrorist attacks have succeeded. There is no other way to spin it.

‍

The UN’s Charter, in Article 4, requires prospective members to be “peace-loving” and willing to carry out the obligations in the UN Charter. With this vote in the UN General Assembly, Australia is declaring that we believe Hamas, the de facto sovereign power in Gaza, is capable of being a responsible member of the international community.

‍

For decades, the bipartisan position in Australia has been that only a negotiated two-state solution can create the basis for a durable peace in the Middle East. It is a view that our close allies, such as the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, continue to hold. There have been multiple such negotiations over the past three decades, dating back to the Oslo process.

‍

But each such negotiation has foundered because the Palestinian political leadership has been ultimately unwilling to renounce its claims to the territory of Israel. The last such effort, led by secretary of state John Kerry during the second term of the Obama administration, collapsed after Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas refused to recognise Israel as a Jewish state, refused to abandon the “right of return” and refused to commit to ending the conflict.

‍

The problem with this attempt by the international community to short-circuit this process, and create a Palestinian state by international fiat, is that nothing is demanded in return.

‍

The newly created state of Palestine would not need to recognise the state of Israel, or commit to peaceful coexistence alongside it. If ruled by Hamas, it could continue to seek to destroy the sole Jewish state.

‍

This is a recipe for sustained conflict, not durable peace. The resolution Australia supported is a reward for terrorism. Hamas’s main backers, including Iran, Syria, Russia, Qatar and Lebanon, all voted for it.

‍

The fact that Australia voted yes in such company, and found ourselves at odds with the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and many European states, tells you just how severely our moral compass has been inverted.

‍

If Australia was serious about bringing an end to this conflict, and creating the basis for a durable peace, then we should be calling for the release of hostages, the removal of Hamas, and the reform of the Palestinian Authority.

‍

Not voting alongside Iran and Russia to reward the terrorist attacks of October 7.

‍

Dave Sharma was ambassador to Israel from 2013-17 and the former Liberal member for Wentworth. He is a NSW senator.