Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has accused the government of “a clear prejudice towards Israel” after Foreign Minister Penny Wong reiterated support for a two-state solution.
Mr Dutton accused the foreign minister of “recklessness” in a speech at the Sydney Opera House on Wednesday evening in which he also called for migrants to be “leave” if they “do not subscribe to our liberal democratic values”.
On Tuesday, Senator Wong repeated the government’s desire to see a formally-recognised Palestinian state in the Middle East, co-existing with the state of Israel and without the involvement of designated terrorist group Hamas.
She called this “the only hope to break the endless cycle of violence”.
Support for a two-state solution is a long-established and bipartisan foreign policy position, but the timing of Senator Wong’s remarks were significant given the government’s mounting criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza, especially since an Israeli air strike killed Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom.
The Coalition has consistently voiced support for Israel since the Hamas attacks of October 7. Mr Dutton has avoided criticising Israel’s actions and has long accused the government of weak support for Israel. But his fresh remarks are a significant escalation on both fronts.
Mr Dutton accused Senator Wong of “blam[ing] Israel for a failure of a two-state solution,” calling her remarks “utterly illogical, ill-timed and inappropriate.”
“For a crass domestic political win, Penny Wong has irreparably damaged our relations with our ally Israel.”
In a speech on Tuesday, Senator Wong blamed “all parties” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for failing to deliver a two-state solution.
She added the Netanyahu government had “caused widespread frustration” by its “refusal to even engage on the question of a Palestinian state”. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has consistently rejected talks of a two-state solution.
“Israel’s own security depends on a two-state solution. There is no long-term security for Israel unless it is recognised by the countries of its region.”
Dutton tells ‘recalcitrant minority’ to ‘leave’
Mr Dutton accused the government of a “lax” approach to anti-semitism.
He drew a parallel between protests outside the Opera House on October 9, in which NSW Police determined a group of protesters chanted “where’s the Jews?”, and the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, in which 35 people were killed.
“While no-one was killed during the October 9 protests, [they] were akin to a Port Arthur moment in terms of their social significance,” he said, suggesting Anthony Albanese had failed to respond appropriately.
“The Albanese government has failed to provide the moral clarity … which differentiates civilisation from barbarism, and which discerns the good from the evil,” he said.
“Because we are a tolerant country, we need strong political leadership which shows … that there is a limit to what will be tolerated.”
He explicitly linked this latter comment to immigration, suggesting “there are people in our country today who do not subscribed to our liberal democratic values [and] have ripped up the social contract.”
“This cannot stand. My message to this recalcitrant minority is … If you do not subscribe to the Australian way of life, leave this country.”
He called for “non-citizens who incite or choose violence” to be deported.
Mr Dutton has previously made comments singling out migrants from specific backgrounds. In 2016, he suggested “there was a mistake made” in admitting Lebanese-Muslim migrants to Australia in the 1970s, and in 2018 he accused African migrants of “gang violence”.
In his speech on Wednesday evening, he also suggested schools and universities had “become places of indoctrination instead of education”, citing school climate protests, for which he also blamed social media.