Australia / Israel Review

The ABC’s Global Affairs Editor John Lyons is the public broadcaster’s default in-house commentator on developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

But if Lyons’ recent commentary – characterised by grossly misleading claims and lack of context, as well as basic factual errors – is anything to go by, maybe someone else deserves a turn.

Lyons asserted on ABC TV News (Aug. 29) that more than 600 West Bank Palestinians have been killed by Israeli “soldiers and settlers” since October 7 and “not one of those people will be charged.” 

The inference that Israeli soldiers and settlers have been simply murdering Palestinian civilians without cause and should all be arrested is grossly irresponsible. In fact, UN figures show that 98.2% of those 600 Palestinians were killed in clashes with the IDF, not by settlers – and other data shows these were overwhelmingly armed gunman or terror group members. Plus, a quick Google search proves that settlers have often been charged when they break the law.

In late August/early September, Lyons repeatedly commented on the IDF operations targeting terror cells in northern West Bank cities backed by Iranian funding and arms (see p. 24). 

On ABC TV News (Aug. 29), Lyons dismissed the operation as unjustified, insisting, “the notion that suddenly there are all these nests of militants and would-be terrorists just doesn’t pass muster.”

Lyons’ Sept. 2 online article claimed, “most of the time, the West Bank has been a low-level security problem for Israel.” 

In fact, between January and June 2023, Israel recorded more than 500 successful or foiled Palestinian terror attacks emanating from the West Bank, while this year there have been 255 “significant” terror attacks launched from the area, as well as 435 attacks against IDF targets.

On ABC Radio “Nightlife” (Sept. 5), Lyons stressed that “the whole six years I lived there [between 2008 and 2013]… I… spoke to a lot of Israeli… military leaders and intelligence people, never once did they talk about the West Bank being some hotbed of Iranian-inspired terrorism. Why suddenly is that the case?” 

That was more than ten years ago, and there have recently been numerous mainstream media reports about Iran’s growing investment in cultivating West Bank terror cells over the last few years – for instance, in the New York Times. 

On Aug. 29, Lyons outlined his theory about the West Bank operations, asserting that “it’s driven clearly by the political elite. There is a big split now between Prime Minister Netanyahu, who fully endorses these so-called operations, and the head of their security service, Shin Bet… Ronen Bar.” 

Lyons is wrong about Bar – apparently having misunderstood recent public comments by him warning of the danger of West Bank settler violence. Since 2022, Bar has been a leading voice in Israel warning of Iran’s efforts to foment terror on the West Bank and forces from the Shin Bet have been a key part of the recent West Bank operations.

In a Sept. 5 radio interview, Lyons claimed “Netanyahu… his Government, and the army, are using the cover of Gaza [to] create as much havoc as possible [in the West Bank].” 

Lyons said the evidence proving these operations were purely punitive is the “fact” that when the operation concludes, the IDF supposedly uses bulldozers to dig up the roads, and must be doing this to “make daily life so much harder.”

In reality, however, the IDF’s bulldozers usually precede, not follow, the entry of troops into West Bank cities to prevent soldiers being killed by IEDs hidden under roads – as the ABC itself has reported. 

On “Foreign Correspondent” on March 14, reporting on operations in Tulkarem, ABC Middle East correspondent Allyson Horn noted that “Israel says the bulldozers uncovered dozens of explosive devices planted under these streets.” 

In two appearances on ABC TV on Sept. 3, Lyons claimed that the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty prohibited Israel from stationing troops along the Egypt-Gaza border.

Also wrong. The 1979 treaty explicitly allows Israel to station four battalions along the border area.

Discussing the murder of Israeli hostages in Gaza (ABC TV News, Sept. 3), Lyons claimed that Netanyahu “begged for forgiveness, for not prioritising the hostages sooner.”

In fact, Netanyahu had “ask[ed] for your forgiveness that we did not succeed in bringing them home alive”, making no admission about not having prioritised them.