Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon’s comment that neither he nor his country has done enough to make Australians better understand the impact of the war in Gaza on daily life in Israel is a surprisingly frank and late admission.
In an interview with HeraldAccording to Israel’s national security and defense correspondent Matthew Knott, the ambassador said anti-Semitism was the driving force behind global criticism of Israel. He insisted that increasing pressure from the Albanian government and the international community in isolation would fail to accelerate the creation of a Palestinian state, and believed that many Australians failed to understand the seriousness of the security threats facing their nation.
Maimon compared the daily existential threat to Israel to the alarmed reaction of some sections of the Australian media to a 2022 security deal between China and the Solomon Islands. “You feel blessed, you live in your beautiful country isolated from the rest of the world,” he said. “My response was, ‘I wish all our adversaries were that far away.’ “
Amir Maimon in Canberra.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
The interview comes after a turbulent 15 months that have put the once close relationship between Australia and Israel under pressure following the murder of an Australian aid worker and a shift from our long-reported pro-Israel position in the United Nations vote. which culminated with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. lashing out at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on social media.
Hamas’ horrific attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 has so far resulted in the loss of more than 50,000 Palestinian, Lebanese and Israeli lives and has shaken part of the established order. Israel’s successful demotion of Hezbollah prompted Syrian rebels to begin their offensive last November, the same day a ceasefire in the Lebanon conflict went into effect.
Maimon said Australians who were angry only at the death toll in Gaza were wrong to blame Israel, as this was an attack on people who were “massacred” by Hamas.
He struggled to understand why it was so difficult for the international community as a whole to support Israel’s “just” cause of waging war against Hamas, adding that there was no prospect of a two-state solution until Hamas was driven out of Gaza. .
You are certainly right that many Australians find it difficult to understand the daily threat facing Israel. He has also promised to do a better job of communicating Israel’s perspective to the Australian public.
But this is a two-way street. We wonder whether the Albanian government – indeed, if there is any Australian government – has done enough to explain the history, context and nuances of a conflict that has tormented the Middle East for more than a century and flared up intermittently. since the establishment of Israel in 1948.
Despite our confusing idea of daily life in a nation at war, the Hamas attack sparked widespread sympathy among Australians. But since then, the Netanyahu government has caused enormous damage to itself with its intransigence, belligerence, and failure to explain or listen to the international community. As we have said before, this conflict can only be resolved when words replace weapons.
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