Media Releases

The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) is extremely disappointed by Australia’s abstention on yesterday’s UN General Assembly resolution demanding Israel completely pull out of the West Bank and Gaza within one year, noting the Australian Government should have voted “no” if it is genuinely committed to Australia’s long-standing bipartisan policy of supporting a negotiated Israeli-Palestinian two-state peace.

AIJAC Executive Director Dr Colin Rubenstein AM said, “This Palestinian-written resolution stands in complete contradiction to Australia’s bipartisan policy of seeking to encourage a negotiated two-state peace, as well as UN Security Council resolutions calling for this outcome. By passing this resolution, the UN has endorsed the wild and false accusations it contains, encouraged continued Palestinian rejectionism and rewarded Hamas’ barbaric atrocities of October 7, thus making achieving genuine peace vastly more difficult.

“This Resolution is far worse than the many other recent attempts by the Palestinian leadership to bypass any direct negotiations and make the international community impose a resolution on Israel without any obligation on their part. It calls for a global arms embargo against Israel, global boycotts on almost all Israeli companies, Israeli reparations to the Palestinians, and declares Israel an ‘apartheid state’ while setting up an ‘an international commission of inquiry’ to effectively dismantle Israel as a Jewish national home. No wonder the US Biden Administration described it as ‘one-sided’ and ‘inflammatory’.

“Moreover, apart from overturning the Oslo Accords by ostensibly granting all Palestinian maximalist demands without any obligation for them to actually live in peace with Israel, this resolution amounts to the ultimate reward for terrorism, turning October 7 into a total victory for Hamas. Mass murder, rape and torture would not be punished, but instead will have become the successful Palestinian tactics that prompted the international community to attempt to impose via coercion all the extremist demands of the Palestinian leadership. Palestinian statehood could have been achieved by negotiating peace – Israel has made several generous two-state peace offers which were rejected – and still should be. Yet now Palestinians are being taught that mass terrorism offers them much greater rewards.”

Dr Rubenstein also noted that, “Foreign Minister Senator Penny Wong’s comments that Australia wished to support the resolution if it was consistent with the non-binding advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Israel-Palestine earlier this year is almost as concerning as Australia’s decision to abstain on the resolution rather than vote no. That ICJ finding was itself part of the same Palestinian campaign of lawfare designed to avoid negotiating peace. It was based on a UN General Assembly resolution offering terms of reference which more or less instructed the Court to say that Israel has no right to be in any part of the West Bank or Gaza. Australia’s long-standing policy and national interests demand that we support a process leading to peace, not the Palestinian lawfare and rejectionism which is making a two-state peace ever less likely.”

Dr Rubenstein concluded, “Yesterday’s resolution was a direct result of the failed policy of providing Palestinians with diplomatic largesse in the hope they will moderate, as exemplified by Australia’s May 2024 vote to upgrade the ‘State of Palestine’s’ status at the UN. The policy not only fails to deliver Palestinian moderation, it encourages Palestinians along an extremist path. The policy Australia should instead adopt is to diplomatically reward Palestinians only after they have earned such rewards, specifically by returning to negotiations and ending incitement to violence.”