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Labor is facing calls to reinsert a demand for listed terror group Hamas to disarm into its official policy platform, as factional heavyweights seek to avoid a heated debate on the floor of the party’s national conference.
The Israeli embassy in Canberra issued a lengthy statement on Monday criticising Labor’s proposed policy platform, prompting accusations from pro-Palestinian advocates that Israel was inappropriately interfering in Australian domestic politics.
The latest version of the draft platform condemns the use of violence, including by Hamas, but earlier versions included an explicit reference that “Hamas must disarm and can have no role in the State of Palestine”.
This demand was removed in recent weeks, alarming pro-Israel advocates within the party.
Labor sources said intense discussions were under way behind the scenes before the start of Labor’s national conference on Thursday, and the call for Hamas to disarm could be added back into the document as part of a compromise deal.
When announcing $25 million in new aid funding for Palestine on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said: “This package demonstrates Australia’s practical commitment to Palestinian recovery, reform and institution-building. Hamas can play no role in the State of Palestine.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has repeatedly said that Hamas must have no governing role in Gaza.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Ted O’Brien said he was alarmed by the changes to the draft platform.
“If Labor no longer believes Hamas must be disarmed and excluded from any future Palestinian state, it must explain why,” he said.
“Labor was adamant that the Palestinian Authority had given undertakings on elections and reform, and that Hamas would play no role in a future Palestinian state.
“Any attempt to water down these commitments exposes the folly of Labor’s premature recognition of Palestinian statehood, and a willingness to deceive the Australian public.”
Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said the group was “deeply concerned by reports that the ALP’s draft national platform to be released at the upcoming national conference in Adelaide has dropped explicit calls for Hamas to disarm and for the Palestinian Authority to reform, as well as calls for guarantees of Israel’s security”.
“Hamas’ disarmament and PA reforms are not peripheral issues – these were the central conditions repeatedly articulated by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as prerequisites for Australia’s recognition of a Palestinian state last August,” Rubenstein said.
“Without them, any nominal verbal support for a two-state resolution becomes effectively meaningless.”
The Palestinian delegation in Canberra welcomed the draft platform and called for the government to go further by giving practical effect to last year’s decision to recognise Palestinian statehood.
“As a next step, we hope the Australian Labor Party and the Australian government will consolidate the recognition of the State of Palestine by establishing full diplomatic relations, including the exchange of ambassadors,” the delegation said.
Although the Albanese government recognised Palestinian statehood last September, Australia has not appointed an ambassador to Palestine and the Palestinian Authority’s diplomatic presence in Canberra is not listed as an embassy by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Australia Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni said he was alarmed by the Israeli embassy’s attempts to change the draft platform, which calls out settler violence in the West Bank and condemns a recent Israeli law expanding the use of the death penalty.
“There is an important distinction between diplomatic engagement with the Australian government and a foreign state publicly attempting to influence the internal policymaking processes of an Australian political party,” Mashni said.
“That is an extraordinary step, and one that should concern every Australian regardless of their politics.
“Labor must not allow itself to be intimidated. If anything, this intervention demonstrates why it is essential that Australia’s foreign policy is grounded in international law.”
Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said it was right for Labor to hold Israel to legitimate standards, but it should also insist upon Palestinian governance reform and demand no role for Hamas in its party platform.
“These are not anti-Palestinian conditions, they are the foundations of a viable Palestinian state,” he said.
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