Australian Pro-Israeli Lobby: Modus Operandi
Australian Pro-Israeli Lobby: Modus Operandi
Pro-Israeli Lobby in Australia - MPs and The Fourth Estate
Synopsis
This article provides an overview of the Pro-Israeli Lobby in Australia, how it is set up and operates and its impacts on Government and Journalists.
To be clear - “Pro-Israeli Lobby” refers to political-related lobbying for the policies of the State of Israel, including silencing voices speaking out against Israeli policy.
The bodies that facilitate the lobby are not-for-profit charitable institutions that also engage in positive work for the whole Jewish community of almost 100,000 people in Australia (0.45% of the population)1.
Domestic community activities have nothing to do with Israeli politics and is as with all community organisations a positive influence on society.
However - there is a valid question on true representation of more moderate voices as the pro-Israeli Agenda is masked in the what appears to be simply community group representation.
Note: Excluded from this Article: A review of political funding
NOT included in this review is cash political funding by pro-Israeli lobby groups of Australian politicians.
Trips to Israel, gifts in kind etc. are on members registers of interests, but small beer to large cash political donations.
In the UK and US this is clear and registered - it is unclear at this time how this is registered and transparent in Australia.
‼️Note: Article regularly updated - see version history below
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‼️Version History:
Article updated: Thursday 18th July 2024 (Sleekit Scotsman ☮️🏴 articles are updated periodically to add latest information on the subject of the article for relevance)
Updates
18th July: In the UK - Sir Alan Duncan former Foreign Secretary was cleared of “antisemitism” for outing the pro-Israeli lobby influence on Government - and the blatant lobbying of “Jewish representative” groups in the UK, calling for them to be decoupled. Essentially the crux of this very article. Added section here: 🇬🇧📢🇮🇱 EPILOGUE: An ex-UK Foreign Secretary speaks out on the Israel Lobby
16th July: Added section on another student pro-Israeli group launched in Australia, Stand With Us - a branch of the right wing American group: Stand With Us in Australia.
15th July: Added sections:
Government “Antisemitism Envoy” appointment of a blatant pro-Israeli person - Australian Government: July 2024 appointment of “antisemitism envoy”
“Secret squirrel” trip to Israel for VIC Liberal MPs in June - June 2024 - “Secret Squirrel” trip to Israel for VIC State Liberal MPs and Federal and State MPs and Senators who have taken funded trips to Israel
21st June: Added addition of patrons Dan Andrews and Nova Peris to Labor Friends of Israel.
4th June: Added update to the first stage legal case win for ABC journalist Antoinette Lattouf, sacked by the pro-Israeli lobby in an orchestrated campaign: ABC Bias: The Sacking of journalist Antoinette Lattouf
2nd June: Added graphics to FOI section, added section covering all currently sitting State and Federal MPs and Senators who have taken funded trips to Israel.
1st June: Added section on Parliamentary Friends of Israel (FOI) Organisations in Federal and two of the State Parliaments. Also section on PM Malcolm Turnbull in PM-level lobbying section.
30th May: Added section on Palestine State motion voting pattern, and also on PM Tony Abbott in PM-level lobbying section.
28th May: Added section on PM Julia Gillard in PM Level-Lobbying section.
20th May: Addition of Australia’s vote for Palestinian Statehood at the UN in PM Lobbying Section: Albanese. This indicates they are at least trying - and their hands are politically bound from what they inherited from Morrison. Under the surface I believe they are essentially as pro-Palestine as the rest of us but applying brutal realpolitik.
Contents
Australian Government: July 2024 appointment of “antisemitism envoy”
Australian Lobby Group Sponsored Trips to Israel for MPs / Journalists
Federal and State MPs and Senators who have taken funded trips to Israel
Australian PM Level Lobbying (✅ successful, ❌ not successful)
International Institute for Strategic Leadership Dialogue: Private Think Tank
THE PRO-ISRAELI MEDIA PR MACHINE
🇬🇧📢🇮🇱 EPILOGUE: An ex-UK Foreign Secretary speaks out on the Israel Lobby
📺 APPENDIX A : MIRIAM MARGOLYES APPEAL TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE OF AUSTRALIA APRIL 2024
APPENDIX B - Breaking up pro-Israeli lobby groups
ORGANISATION
To understand how the Pro-Israeli Lobby is set up in Australia, it is worth looking at the different bodies and how they relate to the central fundraising and Zionist organisations in Israel.
Summary of principal bodies and relation
There are various organisations involved in representing the community through various domestic policy advocacy within Australia, charitable causes, fundraising and community events - all of which truly represent the community as with any other community groups and have nothing whatsoever to do with Israel or the policies enacted by the Government.
There are other tertiary lobbying groups and various Israeli bodies for collecting funds raised by Jewish communities around the world and transferring back to Israel for internal projects, returning some monies to fund the local Zionist organisations.
The main bodies, relation and location are described below:
Principal Australian Organisation:
Executive Council of Australian Jewry: (Founded 1944: Co-Chairs Alex Rvychin and Peter Wertheium AM) The central body representing members of the Jewish faith in Australia.
The ECAJ maintains amongst other items a central policy platform composed of both domestic policy but also “International Policy on Israel & International Affairs” which mirrors Israeli State Policy which is clearly pushing a foreign policy agenda on behalf of Israel.
The group has a permanent office in Canberra opened in 2018 at the height of the Liberal Government’s successive pro-Israeli legislation and policy changes.
State Bodies: various state bodies for Jewish Affairs including:
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies incorporating NSW Parliamentary Friends of Israel co-ordinating NSW State Parliament lobbying and MP trips to Israel.
ECAJ and other organisations in this section who claim to represent the whole Australian Jewish community and clearly do not have faced criticism for their pro-Israeli stance which has been made transparent in the Gaza crisis. The last section of this article The Next Generation of Jewish Representative Groups details the issues and alternatives.
Australian Fundraising Bodies:
Jewish Communal Appeal fundraiser for a mix of local activities in the Jewish community in Australia but also for funding pro-Israeli organisations such as the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (see political activity below).
United Israel Appeal (UIA) - (Australia): the core fundraising group in Australia sending money to Israel via global organisation Keren Heysod (below) for activities in the country including those projects defined by the Government of Israel2. The UIA raised over $32M AUD in 2022 and with existing assets $32,966,440 was sent overseas to the central Israel funding bodies below (correctly declared as overseas expenses unlike other organisations below).
Israel-based global organisations for managing funds and logistics:
Keren Heysod: (Founded 1920) the worldwide fundraising arm for the people of Israel. Objective is to raise funds for Israel's national priorities which are identified at a strategic level collectively by Keren Hayesod-UIA, The Jewish Agency for Israel and the government of Israel.
The Global Chairman of Keren Haysod is Steven Lowy3, the son of Australian businessman Frank Lowy of the Westfield Group.
The Jewish Agency for Israel is the largest Not-For-Profit fundraising body in the world.
It is described as the Operational arm of the World Zionist Organisation (see below).
The Chairman of The Executive is General Doron Almog who has been implicated in war crimes for his conduct in Palestine. Almog was recently in Australia on a fund-raiser for Israel with complaints made to The Australian Government regarding providing him a visa4. In 2005 in the UK an arrest warrant was issued for him, but he was tipped off and avoided arrest by staying on the plane back to Israel.
Israel-based Global Zionist Organisation:
Worldwide Zionist Organisation(WZO): (Founded 1897): Central body for Zionism for which Australian branch is a member. Stated Mission5:
Zionism aims at establishing for the Jewish people a legally assured home in Eretz Yisrael. To achieve this purpose, the following means shall be employed:
Promoting the settlement of Jewish farmers, artisans, and tradesmen in Palestine.
Organizing and uniting the whole of Jewry through effective local and international means in accordance with the laws of each country.
Strengthening of the Jewish national sentiment and national consciousness through Israel education with shlichim (Global chapters of the WZO)
Preparatory steps toward obtaining the consent of governments, where necessary, in order to achieve the goals of Zionism.
The Chair of the World Zionist Organisation is Yaakov Hagoel of the Likud Party involved who sanctioned a controversial incident in 2022 where 150 Jewish feminists were attacked at the Western Wall6.
Australian Zionist Organisation (Schlichim of WZO):
Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA): (Founded 1927: President: Jeremy Leibler, CEO: Alon Cassuto) - part of the Worldwide Zionist Organisation, “advocating for the State of Israel on behalf of The Australian Community”7. ZFA is 100% funded by Keren Heysod and the World Zionist Federation ($3.75M AUD in 2022).
Various Zionist State bodies, including:
Zionist Council of NSW co-ordinating 48 affiliated NSW bodies supporting the Zionist movement
Zionism Victoria co-ordinating 60 VIC affiliates
Peak Lobbying and PR Organisation:
Australia Israel Jewish Affairs Committee (AIJAC): (Founded 1997: Chair: Mark Leibler): Peak PR Body for The Australian Jewish community8. Various activities:
Media & TV Appearances - e.g. November’s confrontative Q&A show discussion early in the crisis
Sponsor of MP ad-hoc trips to Israel - e.g. MP Simon Birmingham’s December 2023 visit to Israel9
“Rambam Israel Fellowship Program” - sponsor of annual private trips to Israel for “selected senior journalists, politicians, political advisers, senior public servants and student leaders”
AIJAC is partner organisation of the American Jewish Committee and organised an AJC trip to Canberra in 2018 to discuss Israel foreign policy with the Government and other key politicians10.
The AJC also runs a Rambam type trip for US Politicians called Project Interchange. This is long-running and unlike AIJAC Rambam very well publicised and described as “a right of passage” for members of the US Congress.
On international policy, it would be fair to say all the bodies speak collectively together in events, fundraising, PR, comms and Government lobbying from a pro-Israeli State platform.
Student Organisations
There are two principal pro-Israeli student bodies the AUJS and the recently established more right-wing “Stand with Us” group discussed below.
Australia/New Zealand Jewish Student Organisation
Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) (Founded 1948 at the University of Sydney - affiliated with the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS) in Israel) is the central body representing Jewish students across multiple University campuses across Australian and New Zealand Universities.
State Bodies: various coordinating AUJS state bodies to co-ordinate universities across the state.
The organisation is explicitly Zionist with a policy platform pillar11 stated to be aligned with the World Zionist Organisation Jerusalem Program.
Funding: The organisation operates as a not-for-profit (see below) and from 2022 filed accounts12 had revenue of $880,773 the majority funding coming from:
75% from sponsors including the Zionist Federation of Australia, Zionism Victoria and the United Israel Appeal.
25% from the Macabee Task Force - a US-based not-for-profit with similar goals on US campuses. This NFP is funded by the Adelson Foundation a family foundation to “strengthen the State of Israel” run by late Jewish business magnate Sheldon Adelson and his now widow Miriam Adelson, a multi-billionaire who is the world’s richest Israeli and runs the Foundation.
In October Adelson called for anyone seen to be supporting Hamas (now defined as protesting against genocide) as “…we must disavow and shame them, deny them employment and public office, defund their colleges and political parties…”13Clearly an agenda attached to funding in-line with AUJS Zionist alignment.
Activities: Amongst other activities the AUJS offers:
Political Training Seminar (PTS) program for young political leaders sponsored by various MPs aligned with pro-Israeli causes14
Leadership Training Summit (LTS) young leadership program
Aboriginal outreach program named Derech Eretz of “Way of the Land”
The final program Accelerate15 is explicitly designed for student campus advocates for Israel with studies of Zionism utilising the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
Noting the IHRA Definition is non-legally binding and a working definition it is problematic as it can blanket criticism of Israel as “antisemitic” which of course it is not. There are multiple papers on this but a good analysis is by international human rights Kings Counsel Geoffrey Robinson AO KC in his 2016 legal paper on David Cameron’s UK Conservative Government acceptance of the extended IHRA Definition as a working principle16.
If Accelerate advocates and broader AUJC leadership are calling out antisemitism on campus utilising this IHRA Definition - then valid criticism of Israel in particular in the current conflict clearly is not antisemitic with a clear conflict of interest here.
It would be fair to assume that the next generation of Israel student advocate leaders would be selected from AUJC leaders for invitation to AIJACs funded Rambam Israel Fellowship Program visits to Israel.
Note that a March 2024 investigation article by the University of Sydney weekly student paper Honi Soit revealed the extent of co-ordinated historical pro-Israeli activity across the AUJC from internal leaked papers17. Students were also beginning to complain mid-2023 at the lack of representation of non-Zionist Jewish viewpoints, shadowing concerns in the broader community (see Questions on True Representation section below).
Sydney University themselves are complicit in military ties with Israeli companies. See article below:
Sydney Uni You Can't Hide...
Stand With Us
The second group relatively recently established in Australia is “Stand with Us” (SWU) - an offshoot of the global organisation based in the US.
Interestingly SWU was found to be one and the same as the global entertainment industry pro-Israel Lobby the generically named (as always) Creative Community for Peace (CCFP) that lobbies for Israel and cancels voices of dissent in the entertainment industry globally. Read more on the CCFP and SWU in the articles below.
Creative Community for Peace - sister body of SWU: global reach in the entertainment industry:
The Kid's in the Picture... if you sign this Open Letter...
Stand With US: operating on US campuses
McCarthy Returns to the Campus
In 2022 after a decade of working remotely with youth and student groups in Australia Stand with Us announced they would be opening a local office18.
Stand with Us is in Australia a registered Australian Charity which has basically sat as an inactive shell company for many years. It lists Richard Balkin as a Director, a former President of the Zionist Council of Australia. The recently filed constitution in January 2024 was prepared by Arnold Bloch Liebler, law firm of the Mark and Jeremy Leibler (Chair of AIJAC and President of the Zionist Federation of Australia respectively).19
The Constitution notes a standard way of dealing with donations tax-free by holding in a “Harm Prevention Fund” (similar to that of NSW Jewish Board of Deputies20) to disperse salaries and other expenses of the organisation in achieving it’s mission of:
“…harm, intimidation, bullying, harassment, vilification and discrimination associated orarising as a consequence of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic advocacy … “ [comment: noting anti-semitic as determined by the group - meaning IHRA Definition)
SWU is strongly pro-settlements referring to “disputed” rather than occupied territories, and referring to them as “Judea and Samaria”. Some of the campus activist “training materials” produced by the group are revealing and tasteless- Oct 7th booklet together with “no way to treat a child” on Palestinian child soldiers:
Some quotes from the materials:
“disputed territories v occupied territories” - drawing into question the status, internationally recognised
“Judea and Samaria” rather than west bank
“in Israel all citizens are treated equally under law” - trying to explain right to return
“Israel is the opposite of apartheid”
“We do not take political prisoners”
The ideology contained in these booklets is clearly Israeli State Propaganda an indicative of the motivations and ideologies behind the group explaining their interpretation of “antisemitism” and the campaigns taken on campus to counter.
Contracted by the Israeli Government to orchestrate student volunteered propaganda
StandWithUs was previously funded by the Israeli government — “to run ‘interactive media war rooms’ manned by students who trained to disseminate Israeli hasbara [propaganda] on social media platforms.”
“The project [was] based on a model that was tried during Operation Protective Edge and previous military operations — in which ‘hasbara war rooms’ were established in academic institutions across Israel in order to disseminate IDF and government messages.”21
LawFare
The organisation places emphasis on reporting, escalating and in particular legal action. SWU in the US has a dedicated legal centre with permanent legal staff and a US-wide network of 250 pro-bono lawyers dedicated to pursuing reported action on behalf of students.
Perhaps this explains the increase in legislative action against students across Australia in the wake of campus protests in 2024. Notably there is co-ordinated pro-bono legal action against prominent pro-Palestinian voices stepping up as at June 2024.
Executive Director and Launch
In March 2024 Stand With Us announced the appointment of a new Executive Director, Michael Gencher. 22
March was also the inaugural year for a group of Australian students to attend their International Training Centre in Los Angles to be trained in use of its controversial materials.
Gencher is originally Canadian and is a Northern Beaches Councillor who defected from the Independent Bloc to the Liberals in January 2024. In 2023 was the acting CEO of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies.
He attended and basically harassed students at the pro-Palestine encampment at Sydney University with a retired pro-Israeli UK soldier who had been flown out to Australia by the ultra right wing Australian Jewish Association, denounced by other groups whose CEO Robert Gregory was briefly caught on camera (below left).
Intimidation on campus - three adults dressed in black, one a 6 ft 2 martial arts instructor harassing students who wisely didn’t engage until the group were asked to leave by campus security - and even then expressing outrage.
Gencher has also previously made some fairly offensive social media posts:
Stand With Us US: Policy Demands of Deans - now in Australia?
Notably Stand With Us in the US was endorsed in Columbia University’s new antisemitism task force first report. They are campaigning for other Universities to use Columbia’s model (described as being specifically to stifle pro-Palestinian speech). The policy is entitled “Best Practices for Anti-Israel Protests on Campus” which they sent in March in a letter to multiple Deans23.
Amongst other items the policy notes:
Enact time, place, and manner restrictions for protests:
a. Prohibit protests in academic buildings, libraries, dormitories, dining halls, and near the entrances of those buildings.
b. Establish, publish, and enforce designated locations for protests and designated times.
c. Limit sound amplification, such as megaphones.
d. Create a notice requirement for protests.
e. Permit signs and banners at authorized protests but prohibit the hanging of banners and the projection of videos or images on any interior or exteriors of buildings unless the administration previously approved it.
f. Restrict attendance to those with university IDs.
g. Grant authority to university personnel to record videos and photograph protesters who do not have an expectation of privacy.
This is almost a MIRROR IMAGE of the new “Campus Access Policy” recently quietly adopted the University of Sydney after the encampments ended, and condemned by the NSW Council for Civil Liberties.24
Coincidence with Stand With Us kicking off in Sydney? And indeed SWU organising a counter-protest on the campus itself on May 2nd which Gencher personally attended - in addition to later harassing students.
Lobbying Group NFP Status
It is worth looking at the setup and exemptions enjoyed by not-for-profit organisations in Australia who also conduct lobbying activities as part of their business activities. This applies to many organisations including AIJAC and ZFA.
AIJAC and ZFA are both registered not-for-profits in Australia with key exemptions
Financial
Exemption from Government registers related to lobbying and influence activities
Tax and other financial concessions under the ATO Charities & Not For Profits regulations where each has to register with the Australian Charities & Not for Profits Commission and publish accounts stating business activities.
AIJAC25
Principal Business Activities: Amongst various educational activities also “… sponsoring visits to lsrael by selected senior journalists, politicians and student leaders etc …. facilitate interfaith dialogue to increase understanding of lsrael and related issues and international human rights”
Revenue: ($3.3M 2003) 50% advertising / 50% donations
Notably expenses for sponsored travel to Israel of some $705,433 are not declared in the information statement as expenses for use outside of Australia (unlike UIA which does declare correctly).
ZFA26
Principal Business Activities: “to uphold and foster the aim of
Zionism” with an office in Israel
Revenue: ($3.7M 2002) 100% donations - “dependent on the funding from the World Zionist Organization and Keren Hayesod for the majority of its revenue used to operate the business”
Notably expenses for Israel Programs of $1,004,735 which must have a component of overseas spend for sponsored trips are not declared on the information statements as expenses for outside of Australia (unlike UIA which does declare correctly). Neither are Israel office expenses of $206,605 which clearly are overseas.
As mentioned the key advantage of NFP status is exemption from registration of activities related to Government influence with the Attorney-General’s office.
Are foreign trips for journalists and MPs considered to be influence or merely education? And how is that defined? Unclear.
Though both organisations undertake activities clearly unrelated to political influence - it is worth considering the normal requirements for an organisation that is.
Attorney-General: Influencing activity Transparency Registration Requirements
There are a few relevant registration requirements by the Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department to ensure Integrity and Transparency:
Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme
Australian Government Register of Lobbyists
AIJAC and ZFA are exempt from BOTH of these registers primarily due to Not-For-Profit status.
It is worth examining the activities normally registrable under these schemes.
Australian Government Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme
Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme (FITS) - a register from 10 December 2018 - give visibility of nature, level and extent of foreign influence on Australia’s Government and politics. From the website:
Individuals or entities are required to register certain activities (registrable activities) under the scheme if they are taken on behalf of a foreign principal.
Foreign Principal includes -
a foreign government
a foreign political organisation
a foreign government related entity
a foreign government related individual.
Registrable Activities include:
parliamentary lobbying
general political lobbying
communications activities
disbursement activity (payment of money or things of value)
There are also additional registration obligations for activities undertaken by former Cabinet ministers and recent designated position holders (eg former Commonwealth politicians, their staff and senior public servants).
If AIJAC and ZFA were not exempt from the register due to NFP status - in order not to register activities they would need to be acting wholly on behalf of Australian entities with no links or influence relating to a foreign principal - e.g.
Israeli Government
Israeli Government related entities or individuals
Israeli Political organisations
Exemption AIJAC/ZFA
There are a number of exemptions from the register listed on the website27.
The relevant exemptions are:
Registered Charities - or not-for-profit which AIJAC/ZFA are
Australian MPs - therefore the MPs attending trips to Israel paid for by the AIJAC would not need to register here (they would need to still register under the Federal Parliamentary Gifts register). AIJAC as the organiser also do not need to register here because of the Charity exemption
Australian Government Register of Lobbyists
The Australian Government Register of Lobbyists (AGRL) is maintained to ensure that contact between lobbyists and Government is in line with public expectations of transparency, integrity & honesty.’
Lobby groups must operate under a specific code of conduct.
Lobbying is defined as:
“communications with Australian Government representatives in an effort to influence federal government decision-making”
This includes:
making or amendment of legislation
development or amendment of a government policy or program
awarding of a government contract or grant
allocation of funding
It is important that Australian Government representatives know whose interests lobbyists are representing.
Exemption AIJAC/ZFA
A number of exemptions are listed on the website from the register28.
Certain activities are not considered lobbying activities under the code. These include:
communicating with a Parliamentary Committee
providing information in response to a request by a government representative (e.g. responding on behalf of AIJAC to DFAT proposal to increase trade with Israel)
communicating with a minister in their capacity as a local member
However - over-riding this:
Non-Profit Organisations and Associations
American Political Lobbying - by contrast transparent
The exemption from lobbying registers in Australia due to NFP status is in stark contrast to America.
ALL political lobby groups no matter their organisational legal status or broader activities - must be registered and reported under “Political Action Committee” legislation, giving more clarity on cause and effect.
This applies both to lobbying activities and more importantly the huge cash donations to individual politicians and parties in the UK and US.
In Australia it is not clear how political donations from lobby groups are tracked and declared.
The article below looks in more detail at the Pro-Israeli lobby in the US:
Iron Grip: Pro-Israeli Influence in the US
Questions on use of Funds and Not-for-Profit Status
In addition to questions on why organisations that are essentially advocating for foreign state policy are not registered foreign interest groups, there are other questions on the use of funds.
Under the pro-Israeli Morrison Government in 2021 DFAT was intending to create a Free-trade Agreement with Israel, and sought submissions.
There were a large number of submissions including:
In amongst other points on why a free-trade agreement with Israel would be inappropriate, a key issue was settlements (illegal under International Law from UN Security Council Resolution 2334 in 2016).
Banning on Israeli goods produced in settlements
Sanctions on Australian businesses supplying companies in Israel in settlement areas
Australian MP Julian Hill Labor for Bruce had concerns about this31 and on 22 March 2024 Hill wrote to the ATO to formally raise two issues:
Removing not-for-profit status of organisations in Australia that raise funds for settlement activity in Israel
Removing double-tax status (implemented by Scott Morrison’s Liberal Government in 2019) for income generated or assets held in The Occupied Territories
Valid questions - to ensure Australia in no way complicit in Australia’s settlement regime.
As a side note - later in this article the pro-Israeli lobby influence in Parliament is examined noting that many MPs receive paid visits to Israel from the lobby group. Julian Hill himself is one of these recipients32 - which is extremely surprising and his independence and representation of his diverse constituents33 rather than a foreign lobby is a welcome exception to MPs towing the pro-Israel line amongst those who have taken the trips.
The Australian Centre for Justice 2021 DFAT response document gave a good framework for targeted sanctions on Israel, discussed in the article below:
POLICIES
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) policy platform is published on the website with a domestic community policy and also an extensive section on “Israel & International Affairs”34.
This clearly sets out a pro-Israeli State policy.
International Policy
The International Policy states amongst other positions:
Jerusalem should be recognised as Israel’s capital (34.3)
Australian Government should move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem [as the US did under Trump in 2018] (34.3)
Palestine should not be recognised at the UN (32.2A)
Palestine should not become a State prematurely (section 33)
More damagingly discrediting the UN and all investigations/evidence is heavily emphasised:
United Nations accusations against Israel are scurrilous, false and without basis (40.2)
UN Human Rights Council discredited (Section 38)
Australian Government should support abolishing UN committees examining Israel’s conduct in Palestine (38.3)
Australian Government should support abolishing current UNHCR and replace (38.4)
The above lobbying points are essentially an extension of Israeli State policy in particular the discrediting of the United Nations and their findings.
Considering the points above on ECAJ international policy - the objective of the policy platform is stated in the introduction as:
“….we are confident enhance general Australian values of democracy and human rights; individual freedom and the rule of law; social justice and compassion; mutual understanding and respect; and a fair go for all.”
In relation to international policy, rubbishing UN findings as “scurrilous, false and without basis“ speaks for itself - considering the published UN Reports, ignored UN Security Council Resolutions and the forthcoming ICJ legal opinion and the ongoing ICC investigation - together with the international horror at the thousands of indiscriminate deaths in the current crisis
See article below for review of Israel’s breaches of international law from various sources - UN, NGOs, International Courts, External Legal Opinions:
Israeli Breaches of International Law
Antisemitism Policy - Extended beyond IHRA
Furthermore - the widely accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism (IHRA)35 adopted by ECAJ (48.6) has been extended in the policy adding an additional bullet point (32.6) to define the boycotts of Israel (effectively the BDS movement and all actions) as antisemitic also.
This is not in the 2016 IHRA definition of antisemitism nor even the US State Department definition36 despite BDS being founded in 2005.
This self-declared position in Australia would give free rein to smear targeted consumer campaigns by BDS Australia for example or of Government policy which might justifiably sanction Israel by international law.
It is also hypocritical and quite frankly irresponsible to:
claim to be the voice of a whole Australian community
adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism that “holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the State of Israel” be antisemitic (which it indisputably is)
then take and actively advocate an international policy platform that mirrors that of the State of Israel
By that logic - criticising someone’s stance in Australia in supporting the policies of the State of Israel would be deemed antisemitic - which it is not.
I have written an article on antisemitism in more detail below, stating my own position with examples. True antisemitism is vile and needs stamped out - but it needs to be defined and false accusations or weaponisation of antisemitism often for political gain equally called out.
Antisemitism v Free Speech Statement: Review of free speech v antisemitism which I want to openly address. I am not antisemitic and important to define an understanding with good intent.
Antisemitism v Free Speech Statement
Alignment with Zionist Policy
Having said that the association with Israeli policy is close. The President of the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) is the son and fellow law firm partner of the Chairman of the Australia Israel Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).
Indeed the ECAJ and ZFA issued a joint statement in August 2023 disputing the Labor Government’s change in language on the Israeli Settlements in East Jerusalem37.
In the current climate having a powerful local political lobby to The Australian Government claiming to represent the whole community - with a central tenet being to push Israeli State policy and discredit the United Nations organisation and the documented evidence of Israel’s human rights violations - is deeply disturbing.
INFLUENCE IN PARLIAMENT
This section describes the particular lobbying operations undertaken in Australia to further Israeli State policy.
Effectively the key targets are politicians and journalists as below:
Considering politics - a key route to politicians is the network of Friends of Israel political organisations.
Parliamentary Friends of Israel (FOI) Organisations
With the upcoming UK election at the time of writing much has been written about the influence of the “Friends of Israel” (FOI) lobby groups in the UK Parliament.
A similar examination of FOI groups in Australia reveals a large network of ELEVEN overlapping FOI groups - seemingly in every permutation between Federal, State parliaments, then individual political parties.
Yet another group of touchpoints direct with politicians for a tiny minority group is revealed.
Somewhat practically - putting aside for a second current conflict and politics - how does anyone have any time?!
Most corporate workers groan when another special interest group is created at work - which means more meetings and more time dedicated to what might be a wonderful endeavour - but takes up from … you know, what you’re paid to do.
This myriad of FOI groups - together with the larger lobby groups - are perplexing how much time they must take of participating politicians.
Second though - is this appropriate in the current crisis where the response of politicians to the current crisis seems completely illogical. When I say “response” I mean:
the continued biased and unquestioning support for Israel and community in the face of international condemnation
the abject refusal to attend ONE SINGLE pro-Palestinian function in the face of a massive scale of human rights abuses and potential warcrimes - from the current crisis and over many years
The FOI groups in Parliaments across Australia clearly play a substantive part in cultivating this bias towards Israel - with the MPs who are members accordingly shaping the agenda in Parliament.
And that’s not including the funded trips to Israel for politicians, journalists and others in a later section.
State Premiers on 30th May attended glittering gala events for Israel’s 76th Anniversary. Inappropriate to say the least but an ongoing pattern. See article below:
NSW and VIC Premiers attend glittering galas oblivious to what’s going on in Gaza. Why?
For an article on the recent unquestioning support of Israel by Premiers attending the 76th Annivers
Under the Radar
This has taken a bit of digging to find the different FOI groups - and there are invariable more (see scope below).
One thing with FOI groups is that the only information available - if you’re lucky - is a tacit acknowledgement on the Parliamentary website page that the group exists and who the organisers are.
There is rarely any other public information available, who the members are, when they meet, what is discussed.
And probably for good reason.
Out of scope
Parliaments - I have just focused on Federal, NSW and VIC State Parliaments. I have not looked at other States or Territory Parliaments though I am sure other FOI groups must exist there.
Party-Specific FOI - I have focused primarily on Labor and Liberal Parties, I am sure other smaller parties may have similar FOI groups or attend bipartisan.
Comparison other FOI - it would be interesting to compare with other “friends of” groups - are these as numerous as FOI? Lack of time prevents this - but it is clear that Palestine groups are not as numerous and lack the regular access to senior levels of Government that FOI groups do.
The following looks at Federal Parliament, New South Wales and Victorian Parliament Friends of Israel groups and the politicians and others involved.
Federal Parliament
Bipartisan Federal FOI
The Federal Parliament Friends of Israel38 is co-chaired by:
Senator Deborah O’Neill (Labor, NSW) - Chair of Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services, Chair of Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation, Deputy Chair of Standing Committee of Privileges
David Fawcett (Liberal, SA) - Deputy Chair of Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade
Bipartisan Federal IHRA
This not a FOI group per se - but because of the subject matter, it essentially is.
Somewhat ironically, a specific parliamentary friendship group was formed in 2022 to promote the implementation of the IHRA definition of antisemitism at Universities.39
This was formed by:
Julian Leeser (Liberal, Berowra, NSW) - Deputy Chair of Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport
Josh Burns (Labor, Macnamara, VIC) - Chair of Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights - interesting appointment
Allegra Spender (Independent, Wentworth, NSW) -
Leeser and Burns are Jewish MPs, but Spender is not however her electorate has a very high percentage of Jewish constituents.
Noting that this is not a country-specific Friendship group, it would be formed under different Federal Parliamentary rules (unclear what they are other than a different application form).40
The group initially wrote to all Australian Universities encouraging adoption of the definition. As at November 2023 only six have signed up:41
Monash
Melbourne
Wollongong
Macquarie
Sunshine Coast
LaTrobe - though this did not adopt the examples that come with the definition
Deakin - not formally adopted the definition, but says it has given this to staff to use when assessing antisemitic incidents
As a note - I thought Sydney University had considered this - some ambiguity.
Problems with the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism
There has always been strong pushback against the IHRA definition of antisemitism - since it essentially includes criticism of Israel and shuts down free speech.
So all the more important why it is NOT adopted - and clear why there is a push to do this now as yet another strategy to try to silence pro-Palestinian voices in the current crisis.
In the AIPAC-stacked Congress in the US for example - this has been used as part of of a swathe of pro-Israeli legislation to try to silence voices on campus and pushed through earlier this month as Bill HR.6090 to much protest.
It is noted that Leeser is also planning to introduce a private member’s bill to Parliament to legislate for a Commission of Inquiry into alleged antisemitism at Australian Universities.
He hosted an extremist right-wing group to discuss the issue a few weeks prior to presenting in Parliament.
This is the same “far right Israel group disavowed by other Jewish associations” the Sydney Morning Herald revealed Dave Sharma to have also hosted recently.42
It is hoped Leeser didn’t incorporate any of the ideas he heard from this group into his proposed Bill.
Bipartisan: International Institute for Strategic Leadership Dialogue: Private Think Tank
This is essentially a very generically named multinational private think tank which funds politicians across parties from the UK and Australia to visit Israel or UK/Australian Parliaments for discussions with Israeli private individuals or officials.
IISL works with UK Friends of Israel organisations to bring UK MPs to the forum.43 It is interesting to review the register of interests of one such longstanding UK MP John Speller, who has just announced he won’t be standing in the upcoming 2024 UK Election.
His records shows a long record of paid flights as part of the International Institute for Strategic Leadership Dialogue (then called more accurately The Australian Israel UK Leadership Forum).44 Presumably Australian MPs attending over the years would have a similar pattern if the data was more easily available.
It is noted amongst Spellers’s roles in Parliament was the UK Arms Export Control Committee.
The IISL is covered in more detail here.
Liberal Federal FOI
TBC - this group will exist but there does not seem to exist information on this lobby, unlike VIC and NSW State Liberal groups.
Labor Federal FOI #1/2 - Australia Israel Labor Dialogue
The Australia Israel Labor Dialogue (AILD) founded in 2010 is essentially another Labor Party Level (Federal and State) FOI group but fostering dialogue between Labor movements in Israel (Histadrut) and Australia and their Trade Unions.
To be honest - the website is less of a “dialogue” with the Labor Party and more of a selective aggregation of positive statements by Labor politicians on Israel by pro-Israeli lobbyists - but included for completeness as party-specific.
Histadrut is a Labor Zionist movement founded in 1920 counting first Israeli PM David Ben-Gurion as its members as Secretary. The AILD was again relaunched in 2015 at an event with previous QLD Premier Peter Beattie to promote connections with grassroots Labor members - unashamedly Zionist.45
The group declares “Labor’s unwavering support for Israel” and makes strong declarations with quotations from politicians including a chronology of Labor Prime Ministers - some of the quotes clearly very selective.
There is a speech by Chris Minns at an Israel Independence Day Event in 2022 on the website - unclear if this was AILD event or not.
The AILD aggregation of Labor politician quotations over the years is very selective. For example - the hardening of the Labor Government’s position on Israel in the run-up to October 7th is completely ignored.
The co-founder of AILD from 2010 Adam Slomin was quoted in Parliament by Liberal Senator Simon Birmingham criticising Israel’s changing position then on the disputed territories just before October 7th.46
Labor MP Josh Burns promised Jewish Australians' interests would be protected 'irrespective of who forms government', and the now Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus, claimed on matters to do with Israel that Australia 'spoke with one voice'. Yesterday, though, Australia Israel Labor Dialogue co-convener Adam Slomin said your unilateral decision to change Australia's longstanding position on Israel and the disputed territories:
… places Australia as an outsider and not a cooperative supporter for both parties to reach a two-state solution.
Meanwhile, the Zionist Federation of Australia and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry jointly described your decision as 'inaccurate, ahistorical and counterproductive' and that it put a peace agreement further out of reach. Minister, can you cite precisely what motivated your government to make this unilateral change at this time other than to appease Labor's factions ahead of next week's party conference?
Notably the Histadrut that the AILD is partnered with in turn partners with the UK Labour Friends of Israel whose patron is UK Opposition Leader Keir Starmer.
Labor Federal FOI #2/2
In response to the Gaza crisis, a new Federal Labour FOI (LFI) was started in December 2023 by Labor elders Michael Kelly and former NSW Treasurer Eric Roozendaal.47
It is unclear who is members of the group but notes the manifesto on the website:
We oppose all attempts to demonise and delegitimise the world’s only Jewish state, and the antisemitism which drives it. As such we reject and campaign against efforts to boycott Israel. We urge international recognition of the multiple and existential threats Israel faces and seek greater international solidarity with Israelis.
Mike Kelly - Weapons company representation
I note that Mike Kelly is a former Minister for Defence Materiel and according to his LinkedIn profile on leaving office started working for Palantir Technologies. He was initially President but since January this year has begun working in a Defence and Strategic role with Palantir.
Palantir are a fairly unsavoury defence technology company.
In 2018 they were the engine behind the UK Cambridge Analytica scandal scraping information from millions of Facebook profiles.48
Since 2014 they have had a partnership with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with its software mission critical in deporting people. Amnesty International criticising Palantir for its failure to conduct human rights due diligence in its contracting with ICE.49
Palantir Are behind the US DoD Project Maven an artificial intelligence project aimed at the unmanned operation of drones - with critics noting this could strike targets without human input. Google employees walked out in 2018 when they found out about the contract and Palantir took this up.50
With drone technology progressing all the time - it is likely that Palantir’s systems are now incredibly advanced. It is unclear if they are being supplied to Israel or not as part of weapons shipments.
Kelly reposted on 31 May 2024 a news item that Palantir had been awarded a $480M contract to supply AI to the US Department of Defense.51
It seems inappropriate to say the least for someone working in this industry to be heading up Federal Labor Friends of Israel.
Inaugural Patrons
It was announced that LFI has two inaugural patrons from 20 June 202452.
Daniel Andrews (former Victorian Premier - who took trip to Israel paid by AIJAC with Dave Sharma in March hosted by the Zionist Federation of Australia53)
Nova Peris (Aboriginal former Senator and ex-sportsperson - who took a trip to Israel earlier in the year funded by AIPAC. She is widely shunned by the Aboriginal community for her support of Israel54)
NSW State Parliament
Bipartisan NSW State FOI
NSW Parliamentary friends of Israel is a long-running FOI group working with NSW Jewish Board of Deputies.
The NSW Parliamentary Friends of Israel is co-chaired from August 2023 by:
Natalie Ward MLC (Liberal, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party NSW, Deputy Leader Liberal Party in the Legislative Council)
Dr Marjorie O’Neill MP (Labor, Parliamentary Secretary for Transport).
Other salient members:
Damien Tudehope - Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, Shadow Treasurer, and Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations
Hugh McDermott - Parliamentary Secretary to the NSW Attorney General
Ward and O’Neill take over from previous co-chairs and members of NSW FOI:
Scott Farlow (Liberal Legislative Council term to 5 Mar 2027- Shadow Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, Housing, Hunter and Central Coast) - continuing member of NSW FOI
Walt Secord (Labor Legislative Council) - who resigned from Parliament amidst allegations of bullying and sexual harassment in the workplace in 2022.55
Liberal NSW FOI
Liberal NSW FOI was formed in 2012 by Premier Barry O’Farrell and has a broad remit with membership only requiring support for the Liberal Party (no need to be a member) and of course Israel.
Therefore internal Parliamentary networking but also effectively a private Liberal pro-Israeli community group of politicians and members of the public.
The Chair of the group was Yaron Finkelstein - who was the chief political strategist for Scott Morrison whilst working for Uber-political consultancy Crosby Textor, and special counsel to NSW Premier Ross Perrotet. Still presumably involved as an admin of the group FB page.
From 2018 Chair was Yosi Tal who commended Morrison’s Government on announcing the intention to move The Australian Embassy to Israel (which happened to be timed with Dave Sharma’s participation in a by-election in a largely Jewish electorate).56
A final key player in NSW Liberal Friends of Israel is Will Nemesh, Liberal Councillor for Waverley. Nemesh was outraged the Greens deputy mayor tried to amend a motion supporting Israel to call out Israel’s war crimes that were being committed at the time.57
Namesh orchestrated a campaign to have the deputy mayor removed from his position. Waverley Council passed the motion supporting Israel and also made $10,000 available to anyone in the Jewish community suffering distress.58
This shadows the disproportionate allocation of State and Federal grants to the community.
Labor NSW State FOI
The Labour NSW Israel Action Committee (LIAC) has patrons:
Michael Freelander - Federal Labor MP for MacArthur
Marjorie O’Neill (Co-Chair Bipartisan NSW State Parliament Friends of Israel, Parliamentary Secretary for Transport).
“We seek to engage with all party members and supporters in NSW to ensure Labor maintains this long friendship and sensible policy position [towards Israel]”
The Secretary for LIAC is Byron Danby, who is also the Jewish Board of Deputies Political Engagement Manager and son of retired Melbourne MP Michael Danby whose seat was taken on by MP Josh Burns in 2018.
Victorian State Parliament
Bipartisan VIC State FOI
Co-Convener David Southwick (Liberal, State Caulfield VIC). Noting Caulfield is very Jewish electorate, and where most of the pro-Israeli lobby groups in Israel are based.
The group host the largest Israel events in Australia including the annual Israel Anniversary day in the State Parliament.
This is covered in a separate article in view of the stark contrast in May this year to the situation in Gaza.
VIC Liberal FOI
This was formed in August 2017 with State and Federal MPs coming together in Caulfield to reboot a group formed by previous Caulfield MP Helen Shardey. Patrons of the group are:
David Southwick (Liberal, State Caulfield VIC)
Tim Wilson (Liberal, Federal MP Goldstein VIC - lost his seat in 2022 election to independent Zoe Daniel)
James Paterson (Liberal, Federal Senator VIC )
Then Federal Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also helped launch the group.59
The group was rebooted at another event a year later with various other MPs and members of the Christian Zionist community.60
At the launch event, Liberal NSW Opposition Leader Matthew Guy made the following statements:
Referred to the Liberals as “a Zionist political party” several times
Pledged that if elected as VIC Premier - he would locate a state trade office in West Jerusalem, “the undisputed capital of Israel”
Jill Curry of Christians 4 Israel Australia noted that 8000 Christian Zionists petitioned Malcolm Turnbull’s Government the previous year to move the Australian Embassy to Israel.
Former Australian ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma was in attendance and noted “too much heat and not enough light” when Australians discuss Israel.
A month after the VIC launch event there was a leadership spill and Scott Morrison replaced Malcolm Turnbull who resigned. Sharma was flown into Turbull’s electorate of Wentworth for a tight by-election.
Gaza Relief: Contrasting State and Federal Community Grants
It is interesting having discussed the huge amount of political FOI groups to note the disparity in grants to the community in the wake of the Gaza crisis.
Federal
Federal grants of $75,000 were offered to individual Australian Jewish relatives of those harmed in the October 7th attack. By contrast - nothing was offered to those Australians with relatives killed by the Israeli response.61
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry after October 7th. ECAJ received $25M in funding directly to contribute to Jewish security62
By contrast - Islamic groups promised a similar amount (yet with a disproportionately larger population) in March had only received $3M.63
Federal grants for faith-based places were also offered of $50M from October 2023 - primarily schools and places of worship.64
State
The Victorian State Government were offering grans of up to $200,000 for upgrades to security at Jewish organisations from May 202465
The NSW State Government also made available a $15M grant pool of up to $250,000 per project for upgrading security at places of workshop in December 2024. This was at least kept open multi-faith unlike Victoria.66
Council - as an example noting the $10,000 from Waverley Council by association with NSW Liberal State FOI - in addition to deposing a Greens councillor against the grant.
The unquestioning disproportionate dispensing of funds must reflect the ongoing cultivation of politicians by these FOI groups.
Australian Government: July 2024 appointment of “antisemitism envoy”
An inappropriate appointment on so many levels. And this image on the Liberal Nationals Coalition media statement on the appointment says it all.
Politically: Right after suspending a Labor Muslim MP
In June 2024 Labor Senator Fatima Payman became the first Labor Parliamentarian to break ranks on the official Labor position and speak out on Palestine. She took two steps:
15 May 2024: Finally accused Israel of genocide and requested the Labor Party to take steps to sanction.67
18 Jun 2024: Called on the Government to recognise the State of Palestine in an opinion piece for Al Jazeera.68
On 25th Jun 2024 in a Greens motion on recognising Palestine in the Senate - she crossed the floor to vote with them.69
She was hounded by MPs from all sides and suspended from caucus.70
She was heavily criticised for breaking rank - despite recognition of Palestine being Labor’s official policy in recognising a two-state solution. Senator Penny Wong noted that she had kept quiet on marriage equality for years until the Referendum and indicated Payman should do the same. How can you equate this with people getting killed daily?
Payman eventually resigned from the Labor Party to continue her service as an independent.
It was in this climate - after suspending a Muslim MP - that the following week Albanese announced a new “antisemitism envoy”.
During the Gaza Crisis: A heavily pro-Israeli appointment
On to the individual appointed, Jillian Segal AO71.
Segal has a strong pro-Israeli track record:
Immediate past-President of the demonstrably pro-Israeli Executive Council of Australia Jewry: recapping official policy platform rubbishes the UN and calls for the move of the Australian Embassy to Jerusalem and the cancellation of all UN investigations into Israel’s conduct.
Past Chair of Australia-Israel Chamber of Congress hosting funded trips to Israel for the business community.
At ZFA event to combat antisemitism on university campuses - a month before the Gaza crisis. Australian Jewish News Sep 3 2023 “Tackling the issues around Israel, antisemitism“ here 24 May 2021 speaking at rally - equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism “we stand together … to drive anti-Zionism and antisemitism back into the darkest and most disreputable corners of our society from where they emerged”72
November 12 2023:
Spoke at a pro-Israeli rally in Sydney and said “there can be no ceasefire until Hamas is defeated”73
Equated Anti-Zionism with Antisemitism: “we stand together with a renewed determination to drive anti-Zionism and antisemitism back into the darkest and most disreputable corners of our society from where they emerged”74
Criticised Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong for taking steps towards a ceasefire and issued a joint statement with the Zionist Federation of Australia75 noting:
rejects calls for Israel to stop attacking hospitals (repeating IDF claims of large Hamas base at Al-Shifa - as later found little independent evidence other than IDF claims together with the discovery of atrocities on revisiting the site together with the abduction and torture of the hospital director)
referring to as libel “any Israeli attack on Gazan hospitals from which Hamas operates would amount to war crimes”
August 2022: Signs joint statement with the Zionist Federation of Australia against the Labor Government’s referral to the West Bank and Gaza as “occupied territories” - the internationally recognised definition76.
October 2021: welcomed the Liberal Scott Morrison Government pledge to acknowledge the IHRA definition of antisemitism77
And to double-down - the ZFA “reminding” the Government of the IHRA definition - against criticism of Israel - that must be applied - carefully adopting a formal tone to Segal as if a stranger:
Segal said in Sep 2023 - a month before the Gaza crisis began - that “campuses should adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism”.78
Exceptionalism: Driving the divide deeper
Why at this time would you appoint an envoy for a particular minority? In view of the fact that:
antisemitism statistics are proprietary, based off IHRA definition
antisemitism is at best questionable based off actual incidents in the community that would be considered true antisemitism and not criticism of Israel
there already exists a Race Relations Commissioner responsible for overseeing discrimination across all religions
an “Islamophobia envoy” was mentioned as an afterthought
And the elephant in the room. The incredible amount of existing groups in Parliament supporting Israel together with the exceptional treatment through Government grants and support.
It feels like a back door way of pushing through the IHRA definition of antisemitism which of course already has a Parliamentary group, plus a Bill being sponsored to investigate “antisemitism in Universities” after the pro-Palestine protests.
So all this focus on the opinions of one minority group …. and ZERO focus on the opinions of a cross-cultural majority protesting a genocide every single week in all Australian cities and many towns.
First Trip - Yet another Global Forum
Segal’s first order of business is a taxpayer funded trip to Argentina to attend the World Jewish Congress to meet with other special envoys from around the world.
The group will no doubt include the US Special Envoy Deborah Lipstadt who called a global meeting of social media giants Meta, X, Google etc. with the ADL to discuss antisemitism online in late May. Six weeks later Meta essentially banned criticism of Zionism on its online platforms as antisemitic.
Australian Lobby Group Sponsored Trips to Israel for MPs / Journalists
With the central tenet being to push Israeli State policy and to discredit the United Nations - it is particularly disturbing to note that AIJAC is the largest funder of frequent private trips to Israeli for MPs79 and Journalists80.
A 2018 study by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) “Who funds Federal parliamentarians’ overseas travel?”81 found that over an 8 year period Israel was disproportionately the most visited country by Australian Federal MPs (State MPs not listed) - outstripping even the US and China by a long way. Trips in that period:
Israel 102
China 63
US 49
The ASPI found the majority of those trips were paid for by the AIJAC.
As a sidetone - as an aggressively conservative pro-Israeli organisation it is highly unusual that the ASPI would highlight these trips in such a way - unless the purpose was to show the closer links with Israel that other countries.
So visible is this influence that Crikey.com on reviewing this and the correlation with media reporting and Government policy, for transparency has decided to maintain an ongoing register of MP/Journalist trips to Israel starting retrospective publication from 3 Nov 202382.
To be fair - Crikey did publish an article on 29 Nov written by Naomi Kaltmann (Founder of Australia’s Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, who ran in August 2022 as an Independent for the Victorian seat of Caulfield83) defending trips to Israel84.
Also note that the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network host study tours to Palestine, however these are very infrequent and partially paid (participants pay their own airfares)85.
As well as Federal MPs, the Crikey Register does appear to also cover visits by State MPs too - unclear if it is sponsored by State based organisations, who at least co-ordinate. The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBOD) notes that it organises State MP (NSW Parliamentary Friends of Israel) and journalist trips to Israel also86 as well as denouncing BDS and supporting the move of the Australian Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
An example trip funded JBOD was the Parliamentary Friends of Israel trip to Israel in 2013, hosted by JBOD Director Yosi Tal also Chair of the Liberal NSW Parliamentary Friends of Israel.
Attendees of the 2013 trip were:87
Gabrielle Upton - Liberal NSW State
Matthew Mason-Cox Liberals State NSW
David Clarke - Liberals State NSW
John Barilaro - Nationals State NSW
Rick Colless - Nationals State NSW
Luke Foley - Labor, MLC
Walt Secord - Labor, MLC
Robert Borsak - Shooters and Fishers Party State NSW
Paul Green - Christian Democratic Party State NSW
Fred Nile - Christian Democratic Party State NSW
Following the trip, Walter Secord praised Israel and aggressively challenged criticism of Israel in NSW Parliament.88
It is unclear how often the Parliamentary Friends of Israel trips take place, but Walt Secord facilitated another trip in 2020 which was not funded by JBOD however facilitated by them.89
Parliamentary Registers of Interest
MPs are exempt from registering trips with Attorney-General’s office due to their office (as below) they would still need to put entries in the respective Parliament’s Register of Interests
Federal Parliament
Most importantly the registers above - as you would expect - are online and searchable.
Open Politics have a good searchable historical index extract on the MPs Parliamentary Register of Interests which you can access here.
State Parliament
Each State would have equivalent but for NSW
Members Ethics: Rules - Pecuniary Interest Disclosure Scheme
Unfortunately for NSW there is no separate page - just an annual report PDF tabled in the Chamber and handwritten by MPs so not searchable!
NSW MP Register of Interests - example 2021-2022 PDF Register Document
NSW Senator Register of Interests
It is suggested an appropriate reform to modernise this would be to make the register a searchable index like the Federal Parliament.
I do imagine there are other more pressing matters to get on with and it’s at the bottom of the pile…..!
Historical MP/Journalist Trips to Israel
The following historical articles are from Jommy Tee at Michael West Media90.
From historical newspapers articles it would appear the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies sponsored trips to Israel from at least 1983.
In 1989 article below: “this year’s tour will be the sevenths since this Board-sponsored initiative was inaugurated in 1983”
An earlier AJT article notes some of the first journos to go on a Jewish Board of Deputies “mission"; "Women’s Weekly editor, Dawn Swain, SunHerald deputy editor, Tony Stephens and Radio 2GB current affairs broadcaster, Stephen O’Doherty, were guests of the Board at a small lunch organised on their return."
AIJAC founded in 1997 launched it’s first trips to Israel in 2003 launching its Rambam Israel Fellowship Program - extending from current MPs and journalists to “selected senior journalists, politicians, political advisers, senior public servants and student leaders”.
The AJN article below noted “8 future leaders” went on this trip notably;
Scott Morrison (then NSW Lib Party Secretary)
Bill Shorten (then AWU National Secretary)
Christopher Minns (then NSW Ministerial Adviser)
The comment from the Jewish Philantrophist Brian Sherman, Chairman of the Rambam Program in 2003:
"The scary thing today is that it appears as if Israel, as a nation, has become the Jew of modern times. The lines between antisemitism and anti-Zionism have become blurred. Israel has become the world's Jew.
Within two years in 2005 AIJAC had noted it has sent 50 political influencers and future leaders on sponsored and funded trips to Israel. The article below notes who were among the first 50 on Rambam.
2007 cohort - with Israel Deputy PM Shimon Peres
Senator Glenn Sterle
Dr. Craig Emerson
Senator Michael Ronaldson
Helen Croger
Senator John Bernardi
Senator Joe Ludwig
2008 - cohort (all Liberal Party)91:
Peter Dutton (“Liberal rising star” - Leader of the Opposition 2024)
Tony Abbott (ex-Australian Prime Minister)
Andrew Robb
Michael Keenan
David Johnston
As part of the agenda the MPs met a pretty unsavoury character in IDF General Moshe Ya’alon with extremist settler views, who in 2002 called Palestinians “ a cancer” amongst his other controversial statements92.
2010 is when studies began on the amount of private trips being taken by MPs paid for by pro-Israeli lobbies, AIJAC or otherwise (Australian Strategic Policy Institute study above 2018-2022, and the more comprehensive Crikey register from 2010).
I imagine the records have had to be constructed from MPs register of interests since the not for profit status of AIJAC and others exempts them from any lobbying or foreign influence registers and checks and balances therein.
2014 Cohorts (Liberal)93:
John Alexander - Liberal Bennelong (NSW)
Craig Kelly - Liberal Hughes (NSW)
Wyatt Roy - Liberal Longman (QLD)
Recent MP / Journalist Trips to Israel
May 2023
Liberal MPs Sussan Ley, Julian Leeser and staffer Dean Shackhar took an AIJAC paid trip to Israel in May 202394.
After the trip Ley noted she had changed her opinion and was now against Palestinian statehood. Julian Leeser in the current crisis is a strong supporter of Israel, frequently appearing in the media and intervening in Parliament.
Leeser wrote an article in the Sydney Morning Herald in November 202395 purporting to speak out on anti-semitism, but which continued to conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism. Retired Anglican Bishop George Browning replied with an open letter refuting the dangerous equivalence, clearly yet again for political purposes96.
August 2023
In August just BEFORE the current crisis a group of MPs and Journalists were invited to Israel on AIJAC’s regular “Rambam” Program.
Selected for the program:
MPs
Liberal - Keith Wolahan (Menzies)
National - Dr. Anne Webster (Mallee)
Labor - Scott Buchholz (Wright)
Journalist
The Australian - Ben Packham
Quotes from those returning:
Nationalist MP Dr. Miriam Webster: "…she expressed her disappointment, along with Wolahan (Liberal MP), in the decision the Labor Party made in the past week regarding the changing of language to be used in the reference to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict…”
Ben Packham, The Australian journalist: “getting a clear sense of Jewish indigeneity to Israel … he did not get a sense of a “functioning Palestinian government.”
December 2023
On 8th December: In the current crisis, AIJAC funded a trip to Israel by a cross-party delegation of MPs97 led by Liberal Shadow Foreign Secretary Simon Birmingham.
Birmingham said his delegation - funded by the Australia Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) - will also meet with officials from the Palestinian Authority but would be "making clear our support for Israel".
The Government has been criticised for sending two junior back benchers (Josh Burns and Michelle Ananda-Rajah) as part of the delegation as “reflecting poorly”. Perhaps sending a senior member of the Government funded by AIJAC might be described more accurately as “inappropriate” in the current circumstances.
On return from the trip Jewish Labor MP Josh Burns was then the only Labor MP to stand up in the Parliament and criticise Australia’s support for the UN General Assembly Ceasefire on 12th December.98
June 2024 - “Secret Squirrel” trip to Israel for VIC State Liberal MPs
In June 2024 the sitting MP for Caulfield David Southwick hosted with AIJAC a delegation of six Victorian MPs on a trip to Israel99 the party of six:
Legislative Assembly
David Southwick LIB MP (Caulfield) - Co-Chair: VIC Bipartisan Friends of Israel, Chair: LIB Victoria Friends of Israel, Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party
Chris Crewther LIB MP (Mornington) - Liberal Party Whip
James Newbury LIB MP (Brighton) - Manager of Opposition Business
Legislative Council
Renee Heath LIB (Eastern Victoria)
Trung Lu LIB (Western Metropolitan)
The Hon. David Davis LIB (Southern Metropolitan)
This was at the height of the assaults on Rafah and other designated safe zones by the Israeli Army. Specifically this was when the IDF posed as civilians inside humanitarian relief trucks and then killed 274 Palestinians / injured 700 rescuing 4 Israeli hostages. Impersonating civilians is clearly the war crime of perfidy according to international law100 - due to the extreme risk of injury to other civilians from this approach - as was the case here (in particular with the operation being during daylight hours).
And yet the MPs celebrated the “heroic IDF operation”.
The trip was inappropriate to say the least - and why the visit went under the radar “secret squirrel” with most press outlets (though amazingly picked up by the NewsCorp Herald Sun - “Backroom Baz: Vic MP’s secret squirrel mission revealed“101).
Two sides of the coin (Source: Alex McKinnon “Everything is Fine*” 102)
Interestingly after the Victorian Liberal MPs’ visit, Lt. Colonel Lerner came over to Australia - this time to meet with various Labor Officials and Unions - to much cricism, never mind “playing both sides”.
Current MPs - AIJAC Alumni
Not above examples are just current serving MPs at the time of writing. There are also many MPs who have left politics who have taken these trips, many of whom are now working in senior positions in the private sector.
Parliamentary Voting Patterns v AIJAC Trips
It is interesting to review voting patterns on Palestine related issues with respect to those that have taken AIJAC trips.
March 2024: Voting Patterns
More recently there have been ceasefire motions tabled in both Australian Houses in the Parliament. It is interesting to look at voting patterns and those who have taken previous AIJAC paid trips to Israel.
In a recent vote in both Houses on a Gaza Ceasefire on Monday 18th March:103
5 Senate and 14 House of Representative MPs had taken AIJAC paid trips to Israel
Two of the three Liberal MPs speaking against the ceasefire motion on the floor had taken paid AIJAC trips to Israel
Both Houses were only half full - so this is just numbers in the MPs present - there are many more.
May 2024 - Voting Pattern
On 29th May 2024 Adam Bandt of the Greens raised a motion for Australia to recognise a Palestinian State.104
Only the house was sitting and 20 out of 80 MPs voting against had taken AIJAC funded trips including the two speakers against the motion, Julian Leeser and Tim Watts.
Federal and State MPs and Senators who have taken funded trips to Israel
Here is a complete list of all Federal and State MPs and Senators who have taken funded trips to Israel. This source is the continually updated Crikey article from Nov 2023 with links to news articles on the MPs trips for many of those listed.
The number is large - but more notably is the most senior and influential positions in Government by many of those taking the trip. It is unclear who of these are in the Parliamentary Friends of Israel groups but you would have to assume most of them.
Federal
NSW State
VIC State
Australian PM Level Lobbying (✅ successful, ❌ not successful)
The lobbying has consistently taken place at the highest levels of Government.
❌ Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (Labor: 2007-2010)
Kevin Rudd stood up to the lobby and by chance was removed from power three weeks after a pivotal meeting.
In 2003 Mossad were caught forging Australian Passports under the Howard Government105. This was a year after they had tried to obtain New Zealand passports under false pretences who jailed the Mossad agents involved for six months.106
In Australia, Mossad were given a dressing down by ASIO and signed an agreement making continued intelligence co-operation contingent on never repeating such an incident.
Yet in 2010 Mossad did the same and travelled to Dubai to assassinate a Hamas official. In May 2010 Rudd’s Government expelled from Australia an Israeli Diplomat widely believed to be a Mossad agent.107
Rudd claims in his 2010 Book “The PM Years” that the Australian Jewish lobby - who condemned the decision as an “over-reaction” - tried to “menace” him for his strong response.
Leibler has categorically denied such an exchange took place and suggested the PM had simply been sensitive and defensive when he raised Ms. Gillard’s record on Israel.
Mossad had been caught travelling on fake passports on assassination missions previously.
In 1997 Mossad agents entered Jordan on faked Canadian passports to assassinate a Hamas official. They poisoned the official but were caught and pursued, and hid in the Israeli Embassy108.
The King of Jordan ordered Netanyahu to provide the antidote to the dying Hamas official but he refused to do so. King Hussein threatened to invade the Embassy and Netanyahu noted this was illegal under the Geneva Convention. King Hussein’s reply was telling - “the Geneva Convention does not apply to terrorists” - a monicker Israel has often been tagged with as a “terrorist State” due to its actions with impunity over the years.
In the end President Clinton intervened and finally got Netanyahu to reveal the name of the antidote and the Hamas official was saved, but the relationship with Jordan went cold as to this day. Clinton exclaimed of Netanyahu “This Man is Impossible!”.
On the night of the coup that unseated Rudd an open secret within Labor is that then Israel Ambassador Yuval Rotem was actually present when a right-wing powerbroker (likely Mark Arbib109) was organising Rudd’s removal from the Prime Ministership.110
Back to Kevin Rudd today - amazingly Rudd has been described as pro-Israeli.
In his current role as Australian Ambassador to the US he would need to modify any less than supportive views of Israel with the strongest pro-Israeli lobby in the world there for the strongest ally of Israel in the US.
Understandably he would have felt pressured in his current role to sign the “open letter of support” organised on Oct 30th by AIJAC signed by five other former Australian PMs.
If Rudd had been a private citizen at the time it would be interesting to see if he would have refused to sign as did Paul Keating, who noted AIJAC were the organisers behind the letter and that he did not want to be a victim of “groupthink” 111. Interestingly - the AFR previously described Keating as “a close friend of Leibler”.112
✅ Prime Minister Julia Gillard (Labor: 2010-2013)
Gillard took over from Rudd and appointed ex-NSW Premier Bob Carr as her Foreign Minister.
In a book Carr wrote in 2014 he noted the “extraordinary” influence the pro-Israeli Lobby had over Gillard, producing private text messages to illustrate.113
Carr noted the reason for publishing the texts:
"The public should know how foreign policy gets made, especially when it appears the prime minister is being heavily lobbied by one interest group with a stake in Middle East policy."
He went on:
Ms Gillard would not even let him criticise Israeli West Bank settlements due to her fear it would anger Australia's pro-Israel lobby – a reference to the Melbourne-based Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council – which Mr Carr says had a direct line into the prime minister's office.
"So, we can't even 'express concern' without complaint," Mr Carr writes. "This lobby must fight every inch."
Her noted that Gillard’s support of Israel was so immoveable that she would not even allow him to change Australia’s vote on what he considered to be a minor UN Motion, the long-standing compensation row over Israel’s bombing of an oil refinery during the 2006 war causing the pollution of thousands of kilometres of Lebanese coastline114
Carr wanted to vote for the resolution - Gillard wouldn’t allow it.
On leaving office Gillard was awarded the Jerusalem Prize at a Zionist Federation Victoria event in Melbourne115.
✅ Prime Minister Tony Abbott (Liberal: 2013-2015)
Since Tony Abbott took his 2008 Rambam trip to Israel with Peter Dutton he has remained a staunch advocate, forwarding some controversial pro-Israel positions during his prime ministership.
25 Nov 2013 - changed Australia’s position at the UN to remove objections to Israeli Settlements116
15 Jun 2014 - caused a furore by changing Australian Government terminology for the Occupied Territories to “Disputed”117
Also during the 2010 Israeli passport scandal, Abbott urged Prime Minister Rudd not to expel Mossad agents saying:
“We can never forget that Israel is a country under existential threat in a way Australians find difficult to understand … we have to understand that Israel sometimes has to do something which mercifully other countries are spared”118
Abbott was dethroned by Malcolm Turnbull in 2016, attended the private Australia/Israel/UK Leadership Dialogue that same year - and accepted an honorary doctorate at Tel Aviv University the following year.
✅ Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (Liberal: 2015-2018)
Turnbull took over from Abbott through to his own coup by Scott Morrison in 2018.
During his tenure the groundwork was laid for further defence integration with Israel exponentially accelerated during the Morrison Government:
Feb 2017: Turnbull criticised those who supported 2016 UN Resolution 3224 calling out Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal.119 This was immediately before Netanyahu’s official visit.
Feb 2017: Turnbull hosts the first Israeli PM visit to Australia with Benjamin Netanyahu.
Nov 2017: Turnbull spoke at the Australia Strategic Policy Institute and Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies (ASPI-BESA) defence think tank meeting in Tel Aviv including many AIJAC representatives.120 Turnbull signed a MOU on defence co-operation with the Israeli Government. This essentially ratified a recommendation the previous year by the ASPI-BESA group (notably in an article titled “The wattle and the olive: A new chapter in Australia and Israel working together“ - inappropriate in hindsight?).121
2017 - Established the Defence Innovation Network - a partnership between Australian Universities and the Australian Defence Department working not just on national technology but others jointly shared with Israel.
✅ Prime Minister Scott Morrison (Liberal: 2018-2022)
Some highlights of Israeli ties under Morrison’s leadership:
2018 - Recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and considering moving Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv - following Donald Trump’s move of their embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem that year (Labor rescinded this statement six months after taking office in October 2022). Yet Morrison also had a cynical domestic political motive for the announcements see below.
2018 - Executive Council of Australian Jewry opens a permanent office in Canberra122.
2018 - Defence Minister Christopher Pyne launched Australia-Israel Defence Industry Cooperation Joint Working Group in Tel Aviv123 (Pyne was Chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Israel Group from 1996-2004124)
2018 - Varley-Rafael Systems launched in Australia125 (JV between Australian Defence company The Varley Group and Israeli Defence Company Rafael Systems still running today)
2019 - double-tax agreement with Israel (the legality of which for income received from the occupied territories has been challenged with the ATO as noted earlier in this article). Note that Mark Leibler of AIJAC et al in his professional capacity is a corporate lawyer and international tax expert. It would be interesting to see who the disclosed Government advisers for this treaty were.
2021 Feb - putting out a DFAT proposal to enter into closer trade ties and a free trade agreement with Israel (noting a major blockers was concerns over businesses operating in illegal settlements also noted earlier)
2021 Sep - AUKUS military pact surprise announced with US/UK, with a huge order of French submarines cancelled in favour of the US
2021 Oct - Morrison announces Australia will adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism126
2022 March - Australian Government declares all of Hamas a terrorist organisation (quite sensible and precedent other nations)127
2022 November - 19 companies listed on the ASX making Israeli companies the third equal largest source of foreign company listings
2018: Morrison plays politics with The Australian Embassy
After the removal of Malcolm Turnbull, the former PM resigned his seat of Wentworth with a large Jewish community.
Liberal Dave Sharma - fresh off the launch of Victorian Liberal Friends of Israel - was swiftly flown to NSW for the by-election as the preselection as the Liberal candidate with his former Israel Ambassador credentials.
To sweeten the deal in blatant pork-barrelling as one of Morrison’s first major PM acts he announced:
$2M funding for a surf lifesaving club in the electorate
$2.2M for security at Jewish community venues
Pledged to review moving The Australian Embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem - pleasing the Christian Zionists who had petitioned Turnbull the previous year as mentioned at the VIC State Liberal Friends of Israel launch.
Morrison was roundly criticised for such a reckless and cynical opportunistic election gamble.128
Sharma ending up losing on preferences to Independent Kerryn Phelps, the first time the seat had been held by a non-Liberal candidate since the first 1901 Australian Election.
Reaffirming ECAJ Policy
Scott Morrison was recognised by the Zionist Federation of Australia in 2019 for “Exceptional Contribution to Israel-Australia Relations”129.
Morrison made a speech rubbishing the latest UN criticism on Israel and vowing to continue opposing their findings on behalf of Israel. Notably this is exact word-for-word policy from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry international policy (as was moving the Embassy to Jerusalem). (Oct 2023 - Labor supports 2016 UN Resolution 2334 on illegal settlements)
Gaza Visit
Notably Scott Morrison recently visited Israel during the crisis to “show solidarity” with ex-UK PM Boris Johnston.
❌ Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (Labor: 2022-Present)
You would think with the AUKUS Alliance for one, the outrage of pro-Palestinian protestors - that The Australian Government under Albanese is a staunch ally of Israel.
I don’t believe this to be the case.
In the current crisis - with Scott Morrison & Boris Johnson visiting - UK current PM Rishi Sunak visited also. Australian current PM Anthony Albanese has not.
Despite pro-Palestinian supporter anger at Albanese this is a fairly clear indication on where he stands on the Palestinian issue, as he has historically. His hands are absolutely tied by Morrison’s agenda above.
However - since being elected in May 2022:
2022 Oct - Labor Government rescinds Scott Morrison’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital130
2023 Aug - Labor Government opposes settlements in the West Bank and changes language from “West Bank” to “Occupied Territories” and adds “Illegal” to settlements (in recognition of legally-binding UN Resolution 2334 from 2016)131
2023 Dec 13 - Australia breaks with US and UK and votes YES in ceasefire motion in the UN General Assembly132
2023 Dec 20 - Australia declines request from US to send ships to Red Sea to monitor Houthi Rebels133
2024 Jan 15 - whilst noting ICJ case won’t help - PM Albanese declined to join AUKUS partners US and UK in calling claims baseless and intervening if required - specifically calling out an intervention by Australia.134
2024 Jan 15 - Foreign Minister Penny Wong on visiting Israel will not visit the site of October 7th massacres (but did meet with the families and thought enough in tight time available) to huge criticism from ECAJ and the shadow Foreign Secretary, who called on PM Albanese to direct her to attend.135
2024 Jan 16 - Foreign Minister Penny Wong announces further $21M humanitarian assistance for Gaza UNRWA on the first day of her trip taking Australia’s assistance to Gaza to $46M since crisis began.136
2024 17 Jan - Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced solidarity with Israel BUT noted “Wong told them that Australia placed importance on international law and that democracies held themselves to higher standards” - calling out Israel as an actual signatory to conventions to meet their requirements. Hamas cannot.137
2024 15 Mar - Foreign Minister Penny Wong reinstates aid to UNRWA for humanitarian aid (one of the earliest nations to do so) and noting that there was limited facts available when AUKUS nations followed the US lead - immediately following the ICJ ruling on “plausible genocide”138.
2024 10 Apr - Foreign Minister Penny Wong discusses recognising Palestinian Statehood139.
2024 10 May - Australia votes in the General Assembly motion for Palestinian statehood, increasing Palestine’s representation in the UN. A major shift from AUKUS partners and others140.
To this date - PM Anthony Albanese has NOT visited Israel in contrast to AUKUS leaders and others.
Clearly this is signalling by The Australian Government their stance on Israel - as best they can as part of the AUKUS alliance inherited from the Morrison Government just before the change to Labor.
This is indicating a worrying trend for the pro-Israeli Lobby in Australia, hence working lock-step with the Opposition under Peter Dutton intended as Australia’s next Prime Minister.
The next Australian election will not be until 2025 (by September). This is too long to affect the current crisis with a favourable Australian leader in place, therefore the majority lobby will be in the US to try to instil a Republican (ideally Trump) in the November 5 2024 race.
In the meantime based on past form Albanese should be watching his back.
International Institute for Strategic Leadership Dialogue: Private Think Tank
Bit generically named? This is in fact a private Israeli “Think Tank” - essentially an Israeli political institution that invites and funds current and former politicians from various countries to attend “discussion forums” which discuss Israeli political interests and are really yet another contact point with Government officials away from the public eye.
The organisation started as the Australia Israel Leadership Forum (AILF) in 2009 taking Australian politicians to Israel for political discussions.
However in 2017 reflecting the increased participation of UK politicians also in trilateral discussions from 2012, the organisation was rebranded to the generic name International Institute for Strategic Leadership Dialogue (IISLD) dropping the word “Israel” - looks better on MPs declaration of interests I’d imagine like a generically named massage parlour on a banker’s expense report!
It was started by businessman Albert Adon who was the Chairman of an Israeli Government Institution the Ausralia-Israel Cultural Exchange formed in 2003141.
The IISD was formed in 2009 with an Annual Summit established, which reported back to the Australian Government its recommendations in March 2010 - “Proposals to beef up Australia-Israel ties”142.
There seems to have been massive traction for the second event as just 9 months later in December 2010 there was a large event which 26 Australian MPs and multiple journalists attended. The trip was falsely touted as “being led by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd”143.
To clarify the extent of the huge apparently funded trip to a private “think tank”, Greens Senator Bob Brown asked the question in Parliament June 2011 (recorded in Hansard144) who attended the trip and who paid for it. It was explained that Kevin Rudd was there on a separate formal Government event that “coincided” with the Summit which he attended. It was suggested that the MPs be contacted to see who paid for their trips. The Parliamentary register of interests for 2010 has been archived so is unavailable for review.
Richard Marles is currently the Minster for Defence and Labor’s Deputy Prime Minister. In September 2023 - a month BEFORE the Gaza crisis occurred - Marles attended the Zionist Federation of Australia plenary conference.
He gave an “off the record” Q&A on the Labor Government’s announcement they would be (correctly) referring to Gaza and the West Bank as “occupied territories” - revealing his personal opinions and affiliation.
The trips seem to have been continuing over many years - in particular see the registers of interests from 2019 for multiple trips declared funded by AIJAC and also AILF for MPs145.
There have been a number of high profile politicians and others from public life involved in these discussions over the years discussing the Israeli viewpoint on controversial political topics at these private forums:
2018 - The Australian Embassy Move to Jerusalem. A core policy platform of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and announced as an intention by then Scott Morrison PM in 2018. This was following Trump’s move of The US Embassy to Jersualem that year to fulfil an election promise (noting Trump’s 2016 campaign and subsequent term in office was bankrolled by a Jewish multi-billionaire146).
2019 - Criticism of the BDS Campaign and discussion of impacts in Australia (noting this is an additional clause in the Executive Council of Australian Jewry’s policy platform to define as “antisemitic” unlike IHRA and the US Government definitions).
For 2021 on-line annual summit during the latter stages of COVID which dropped rebranded again from the International Institute of Strategic Leadership Dialogue to simply The Leadership Dialogue Institute.
It is unclear if the forum is still continuing and if so in what incarnation.
INFLUENCE IN BUSINESS
There is no formal business lobby per se and indeed the principal organisation for trade partnerships the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce (AICC) is on the face of it is a Chamber of Commerce like any other.
However the AICC is of an incredible scale with members, sponsors and speakers at the most senior levels of global and Australian business community and the Australian State and Federal Governments (noting many politicians often end up laterally working in the private sector after leaving politics since restriction clauses clearly do not exist in MPs contracts147).
The actual balance of trade in terms of imports and exports is relatively small compared to other countries (46th in two-way trade and 54th in export partnerships).
Principal members and sponsors of the AICC and its sister organisation in Israel are prominent members of the Australian business community but also hold executive management positions in the pro-Israeli lobbying groups outlined earlier.
In terms of business circles - it would be difficult and indeed non-sensical not to discuss or present a view of the political situation in Israel. Companies need to minimise risk to their organisations and factor in conflict risk to investment decisions and portfolio planning so need to understand this.
It is surprising that the political situation in Israel is a topic absent from the published roster of events noting that there is no suggestion here of direct political lobbying on behalf of Israel within a business community organisation.
This section looks at the principal business networking organisations, events and missions and the calibre of business executives and politicians participating.
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Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce
The Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce (AICC) is the key business forum in Australia, facilitating trade with Israel and influential business networking. This has a reciprocal partner organisation based in Israel the Israel-Australia Chamber of Commerce facilitating relationships with Israeli companies looking for Australian partners listed on their website.
Like all country Chambers of Commerce they work with the Australian Department of Foreign Trade amongst other Government entities and also the Israeli Government via the Israel Trade & Economic Mission to Australia148.
AICC has representation through AICC bodies in every State including:
NSW AICC - funding and operating multiple trade missions to Israel149, hosting local networking events and an annual Israel-Australia Innovation Summit (in 2023 tragically coinciding with the weekend of October 7th)
Actual Scale of Trade
According to DFAT in their DFAT Israel Country Profile Israel is a relatively small trading partner (46th in two-way trade and 54th in export partnership).
In 2022, total trade between Israel and Australia stood at USD1.09 billion, out of which 74% were Israeli exports to Australia (USD802 million) and 26% were Israeli imports from Australia (USD284 million). Total trade figures grew by 12% from 2021.
In terms of scaling the relationship - Australia greatly increased its trade partnership with Israel under the 2018-2022 Liberal Scott Morrison Government but the balance of trade still remains comparatively low.
Business Networking & Industry Executive Sponsorship
AICC self-describes as:
“Australia’s leading business networking and thought leadership forum … connector to high value, thought leadership and influential networks of decision makers”
The current CEO of the NSW AICC Michelle Blum noted that “15 of the top 25 companies in Australia are members or sponsors of the AICC”150.
In 2014 it was noted in Sydney alone over a few months the AICC hosted dinners with Business Council President Catherine Livingstone, then Qantas's CEO Alan Joyce and then Telstra Chief David Thodey who referred to Israel as “the world epicentre of innovation” (incidentally Thodey in July 2024 will take up the role of Chancellor of Sydney University151).
Notably a principal sponsor of the Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce (AICC) and reciprocally the Israel Australia Chamber of Commerce (IACC) in Israel is law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler (ABL). ABL and has powerful private clients who are industry leaders in the Global not just Australian business community.
Principal partners of ABL are:
Mark Leibler: who is also:
Chair of the Australia Israel Jewish Affairs Committee (AIJAC)
Director of the United Israel Appeal (UIA) the principal fundraising body for the State of Israel in Australia.
Jeremy Leibler: who is:
the son of Mark Leibler and fellow law partner
For a decade between 2010 and 2020 the Leiblers’ firm ABL were also acting as the exclusive corporate agents in Australia for the Israeli State owned weapons company Israel Aerospace Systems as revealed in an investigation by Michael West Media below.
A review of corporate events and overseas trade missions (see below) shows the participation of business leaders and MPs at the very top levels of industry and Government.
It is clear the main focus is the business facilitation network of connected individuals associated with the community for broader deal-making, where increasing direct trade with Israel is an ancillary bonus based on the continued low-ranking in DFAT tables.
Trade Missions & Business Events
Trade missions to Israel funded by AICC have been led by the very top levels of Australian Industry152:
May 2023: Alexis George CEO of AMP, Deanne Stewart CEO of Aware Super
Nov 2022: Robyn Denholm Chair of Board of Tesla Inc, Chair of the Tech Council of Australia, and Partner of BlackBird Ventures, Jillian Segal AO Chair AICC
July 2022: Anne Templeman-Jones Chair Blackmores, NED CBA, NED Worley, Margie Searle NED Westpac, Scentre Group
Nov 2018: David Clarke Chair CharterHall Josephine Sukkar AM CEO BuildCorp
Sep 2017: Nicholas Moore CEO Macquarie Bank
Nov 2017: David Gonski AC Chair ANZ Banking, Ian Narev CEO CBA
April 2016: Mike Baird MP NSW Premier(who upon resignation from Premiership in Jan 2017 joined NAB the following month in an executive role153 receiving a salary of $2.29M in 2018)
July 2014: Cameron Clyne CEO NAB
The regular events roster is likewise furnished with executive speakers at various functions and more exclusive C-Suite events154:
Mar 2024: Howard S. Marks, Co-Chairman Oaktree Capital Management
Nov 2023: Hon Daniel Mookhey MLC, Treasurer of New South Wales
Nov 2023: Elliott Rusanow, CEO of Scentre Group
Sep 2023: Hon Anoulack Chanthivong MP NSW Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology
Aug 2023: Paul Graham, Group CEO & Managing Director, Australia Post
Aug 2022: Don Russell Australian Super Chair, Don Luke Australian Retirement Trust Chair
Sep 2021: Dominic Perrottet MP NSW Treasurer
May 2021: Rod Vawdrey, CEO Nuix Group
Mar 2021: Hon. Josh Frydenberg MP, Treasurer of Australia (currently Chair of Goldman Sachs ANZ155, a company he joined within a year of losing his seat in the 2022 election156. Frydenberg was also a private client of Mark Leibler’s law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler whilst Treasurer157.)
Trade missions and corporate events, Chairman’s round table private events seem to have increased exponentially in recent years, generally always at the very top levels of business and Government.
Mixing business & politics
On the wisdom of mixing business and politics the two ANZ and CBA banking executives who led the 2017 trade mission are walking the tightrope.
Ian Narev recently wrote a balanced piece on a business community open letter on antisemitism in November 2023158. David Gonski is more circumspect. He notes he does have a view, considers it unwise to share, and keeps his personal opinions on Israel firmly private159.
In the current environment it will be challenging to keep AICC apolitical. AICC CEO Michelle Blum recently co-authored a piece in the AFR on the struggles within Israel160.
As noted, in business circles it would be difficult not to discuss or present a view in plain business monetary terms regarding investment in Israel where companies need to factor in conflict risk to investment decisions in portfolio planning.
Buisness delegates faced a challenging period in 2014 when a number of trade missions came back from Israel as reported by Crikey161. The “elephant in the room” was that this was in the middle of the 2014 Gaza War which resulted in mass civilian deaths and is currently being investigated by the ICC (case ICC-01/18 here).
The 2014 mission was led by another banking executive, Cameron Clyne CEO of NAB and set off just after the war started and was there for the first ten days of the conflict.
On return at the dinner the Chair of UniSuper Chris Cuffe also attending that mission made a quick reference to the war noting his tour of Israel had been “useful in understanding the current tensions”.
It will be interesting to see how AICC events will continue to be attended in the face of the current crisis but doesn’t seem to be any issues on the roster thus far162.
Conflict of Interest?
Michael West Media has written an interesting article investigating the corporate representation of Israeli Defence Companies such as the Israeli State owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI - known as “Israel Aircraft Industries” until 2006) over a long period from the 1980s163.
Quoting from the article:
“The previously undisclosed links, which stretch back as far as 1980, mean prominent Zionist lobbyists – including the doyen of the Australian Jewish community, Mark Leibler – were engaging with Australian and Israeli politicians and senior government officials, while at the same time companies they established, or were directors of, conducted business with the aviation, drone, military aircraft and weapons behemoth, IAI.
Israel Aerospace Industries and its subsidiaries, won numerous lucrative Australian government defence contracts while the business relationships were in place.
IAI sales to the ADF include: Electronic Warfare (EW) systems for AP-3C Orion aircraft, Maritime Patrol Radar for Orion aircraft, supply of the Heron UAV systems to the RAAF which were operational in Afghanistan for 5 years, ECM pods for FA/18 Classic Hornets, Wedgetail ESM and many others.
On behalf of IAI, the companies acted as sales, marketing and distribution representatives, political lobbyists, and as a corporate agent.”
Arnold Bloch Leibler were exclusive corporate agents for Israeli State owned IAI in Australia between 2010-2020.
Noting as mentioned managing partner of ABL Mark Leibler is the Chair of AIJAC and a Governor of the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce, and his son and fellow ABL partner Jeremy Leibler is the President of ZFA
As mentioned earlier in this article - at the tail-end of Scott Morrison’s Premiership the Australia-Israel relationship was greatly expanded:
2018 - Recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and considering moving Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv
2017 - Defence Innovation Network Australian University/Department of Defence collaboration and funding research organisation launched
2018 - Executive Council of Australian Jewry open a permanent office in Canberra
2018 - Defence Minister Christopher Pyne launched Australia-Israel Defence Industry Cooperation Joint Working Group in Tel Aviv
2018 - Varley-Rafael Systems launched in Australia (JV between Australian Defence company The Varley Group and Israeli Defence Company Rafael Systems still running today)
2019 - double-tax agreement with Israel
2021 Feb - putting out a DFAT proposal to enter into closer trade ties and a free trade agreement with Israel
Scott Morrison was awarded The Jerusalem prize by the ZFA in Sep 2019 for exceptional contribution to the Australia-Israel relationship.
Continuing to quote West’s article:
There is nothing illegal in any of the arrangements and there no suggestion that the companies and its executives or its employees were involved in any wrongdoing.
However, it raises questions about potential conflict of interests and whether those interests were disclosed to relevant Australian federal and state government ministers and officials, and the Zionist organisations, over the decades.
Any discussion regarding bilateral links between Australia and Israel involving technology, trade, defence and security potentially was a potential cross-over point.”
There are a clearly a lot of cross-over points with senior Government officials, across multiple touch points and capacities.
INFLUENCE IN THE MEDIA
A key target for influence is of course The Media - controlling the narrative. The pro-Israeli lobby has strong links with the right-wing press in Australia, but in particular the News Corp owned titles. Reviewing the different media channels - there are clear orchestrated campaigns appearing simultaneously on Facebook, X, Instagram with Sky News “Dorothy Dixon” interviews and opinion pieces in The Australian. Knowing how Media “Grid” planning goes - this is of course not by chance.
I’ve written a more in-depth review of media bias in the current crisis - contrasting rampant Islamophobia in the media vs. heavily accentuated antisemitism accusations at link below:
Islamophobia and bias in The Australian Media:
News Corp 2015 Israel Trip
See one of the AIJAC funded trips to Israel, the 2015 Rambam Program164. Noting attendees:
Ben English - now editor of The Daily Telegraph (then reporter at the same outlet)
Sharri Markson - now presenter on Sky News Australia (then reporter at The Australian)
Bevan Shields - now editor of The Sydney Morning Herald (then The Daily Telegraph deputy editor)
David Lipson - now Washington Bureau Chief for ABC Australia (then Sky News Australia political Reporter)
James Campbell - now National politics editor at the Herald Sun (then State politics editor at the same outlet)
Aaron Patrick - now senior correspondent at The Australian Financial Review (then federal politics editor at the same outlet)
Alan Dupont - now contributing National Security Editor at The Australian, fellow of The Atlantic Council in Washington and the Lowy Institute in Sydney (then regular contributor to The Australian and NSW Professor of International Security)
Notably Sharri Markson’s stories regarding the trip did not disclose the trip was fully funded by AIJAC165.
With few exceptions the vast majority of journalists on this trip were working for a Murdoch News Corp outlet at the time and most still do, albeit in more senior and influential positions.
It would seem the modus operandi of targeting journalists, MPs, student leaders early in their career is a standard approach.
Australian Media Influence - Middle East Reporting
Mark Leibler of AJAIC gave an example of ABC Media Influence at a speech to a WA Jewish Organisation in July 2018 regarding an intervention in an ABC journalist who was perceived as sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.
Indeed AIJAC had been after ABC Sophie MacNeill for years166 publishing a critique article on its website in 2016 with The Guardian reporting on ongoing targeting of her and other journalists in 2017167.
In his own words (from speech notes):
There is a complete breakdown of the lobbying style of Leibler, and also from a US Spin Doctor for US lobbying in the article below:
Lobbying in the US/Australia:
The Language of Lobbying - US/Australia
Australian Media Bias in the 2023 Gaza Crisis
On journalist impartiality (putting aside the already obvious News Corp agenda) - on Nov 24 an Open Letter calling for more balanced reporting in Australia noting the one-sided Israeli approach to reporting two months into the conflict was circulated and signed by 750 journalists168.
There was a specific call for journalists to declare paid for trips to a country they are reporting in particular if paid for by that State Government or an associated Lobby Group.
Senior editors at many organisations intervened - the ABC sending a communication. to staff
“[you should not be] signing any petition that may bring into question your impartiality on that of the ABC’s coverage”.
It was subsequently found that many of these Editors themselves had many paid for trips to Israel previously169 (many listed in the 2015 NewsCorp trip to Israel section above) which is a conflict of interest and hypocrisy in itself. This was discussed recently by Walkley award winning journalist Jeannette Francis (Jan Fran) in a short video.
👆📺 Click on image above to play video segment: Journalist Jan Fran - 1 Dec Facebook video discussing the hypocrisy of senior editors having taken trips to Israel not declaring these whilst advising staff not to sign an open letter calling for balanced reporting 📺👆
ABC Broadcast Bias: 2023 Gaza Debate
The ABC hosted a Q&A debate on Israel / Palestine on 13 November which was essentially a biased press ganging of the President of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) Nasser Mashni170.
“Coincidentally” on the day of the broadcast, the News Corp owned Herald Sun published an exposé of a crime that Mashni had committed over 35 years ago. He was needled with questions on this by the moderator and others for a long period. Just absolutely awful, trying to destroy his credibility with the orchestration, rather than focusing on the issue.
As to the debate, the moderator gave far too much time to the pro-Israeli AIJAC speaker with no real questioning, kept putting the Palestinian speaker on the spot with aggressive points and the ambush and worst of all the visiting independent UN Special Rapporteur to Palestine Francesca Albanese an expert human rights lawyer was all but ignored (she had been pre-booked to be in Australia months previous - the trip coinciding with the start of the conflict).
She was quite visibly frustrated by her lack of voice during the debate - considering she travels the world and makes multiple media appearances in other countries where she is given audience. It was painful and frankly embarassing to watch.
The next day she addressed the National Press Club of Australia (see footnote 9 for full broadcast 1h 11m) where she was able to make her points. She took the opportunity to directly address the bias she witnessed acknowledging Mashni was in the room with journalists who smeared him as video below:
“… the toughest part of this is being exposed to endless suffering, where people are too easily blamed, killed and smeared - as my new friend Nasser Mashni said yesterday whilst he was in front of an execution squad - you did very well Nasser”
After the applause she continued - noting journalists in the room applauding who would have been complicit in the reporting and timing of the release:
“…and this is the Australian people you proudly say you belong to, applauding you…”
“… Palestinians are always questioned, second guessed, misinterpreted and defamed…”
Not a good impression of the impartiality of the Australian media widely reported in the global press as the UN Rapporteur visits multiple countries.
On that very point - calling out the media bias in Australia famed internationally - here is a global interview with Albanese two week later on 27 Nov 2023171 - where out of all global biased journalism - she unsurprisingly called out Australia (1m 43s in).
Comment: Al Jazeera “The Listening Post” is one of those shows where you have to separate out the salacious BS and content; e.g. Albanese’s words in the above fine, but whoever the presenter is, he’s the FOX News Guy equivalent on Al Jazeera - dramatic, salacious, leading. Sod that! I don’t normally quote Al Jazeera - due to the immediate accusations of one-sidedness - but it’s just for Albanese’s words in this case.
ABC Bias: The Sacking of journalist Antoinette Lattouf
An utterly shocking case of bias and the power of the pro-Israeli lobby was the orchestrated sacking of Antoinette Lattouf on 20 Dec 2023 - for re-tweeting an article on her personal social media from Human Rights Watch on the starvation of Palestinians - that the ABC itself had used in a report. The UN also concurs with this - as reported in The Guardian recently172.
Prior to her tweet a group of pro-Israeli lawyers had taken exception to what they saw as a pro-Palestinian position. They had orchestrated a campaign against her from themselves and other Jewish private Whatsapp networks - pressuring the ABC, including direct to Chairperson Ida Buttrose fabricating legal threats in their responses173.
When Lattouf posted the Human Rights Watch article - after a further flurry of complaints - she was sacked that day. For posting the truth - only seen as “controversial” because the pro-Israeli lobby complained.
The lawyers colluding to orchestrate the campaign with the senior levels of the ABC (Chair) and others to have Antoinette Lattouff were only exposed when one of their own members leaked messages from the WhatsApp group to a newspaper.
The lawyers were identified easily enough from their names in the group and rightly vilified for their actions.
Court Case
Evidence recently given to the Fair Work Commission hearings into Lattouf’s sacking suggests that in fact the political pressure on the ABC from pro-Israeli lobbying groups was a key factor in her sacking174.
Lattouf had also written in Crikey on 12 Dec that nobody could verify that “gas the Jews” was chanted at the Opera House protest on 9 Dec by a small group of thugs, for which she was heavily criticised175. In February this year the NSW Police confirmed from independent forensic investigation of the footage that the word “gas” was not said, vindicating Lattouf176.
As an aside, whilst a small group chanted an antisemitic phrase, condemned by Palestinian group organisers and deserve to be charged - the use of the emotive phrase was heavily weaponised globally by the pro-Israeli lobby causing much damage. The point was not the phrasing - it was a falsified statement aimed at elevating a fringe extremist pro-Israeli group, and quoting unverified sources.
Impact of using unverified footage:
Sydney Opera House Audio FALSELY-CAPTIONED
Another example of an institution caving to pro-Israeli pressure over facts seen as “controversial” for which the clear bias was reported worldwide177.
Court Case Outcome: June 3 2024
Lattouf won her court case Monday 3rd June 2024. This negates the argument of the ABC that she wasn’t an employee at the time and opens up to further action and investigation.178
Which will hopefully provide more light in a public court on the lobby influence in her sacking and the senior levels of ABC.
Lattouf’s statement below:
Hypocrisy: Doxxing and Clementine Ford
Another case of collusion to silence a prominent pro-Palestinian voice with broader repercussions was of feminist author Clementine Ford.
She became active in the pro-Palestinian cause and had a lot of traction in her posts on the conflict. The pro-Israeli lobby worked to put undue pressure on her publishing companies and she was dropped from two of them.
It turned out that another WhatsApp group of Jewish creatives had colluded to have her dropped, gathering evidence and openly discussing their approach.
A member of their own group again leaked the Whatsapp messages which were published on a filesharing website with a list of the 600 members with identifying personal information other than names removed.
Clementine Ford was vilified as she was one of the many people who posted a link to the file sharing site to expose the colluders which intensified the campaign against her with further cancellations of her work.
Next the pro-Israeli lobby went straight to the Government citing this as an example of dangerous doxxing and campaigned to have the laws changed which they are again in response currently doing.
But rewind to 1998.
Pro-Israeli Doxxing
The pro-Israeli lobby incensed by a right-wing political Party One Nation, took it upon themselves to hack the party member database and publish the names AND LOCATIONS of 2000 individual members of the Party.
They were about to publish the full 10,000 members but such was the outcry after reports in the Australian Financial Review179 and other media that they had to stop.
An incredible scandal in particular considered against the current case for the 600 people doxxed for taking active colluding steps to have some sacked vs. exposing 2,000 people with the further identifying information of location) intended to be all 10,000 - just for being on the register of a legitimate political party.
A Conveniently Short Memory
On the case for the current proposed doxxing law change, the President of the Zionist Federation himself was interviewed taking the high ground and had the audacity to say:
The hypocrisy is astounding in the case for having this law changed - in particular with the earlier leverage of the false statements at the Opera House to have another law changed.
In particular when you consider:
the motivation today for the doxxing of the Israeli WhatsApp group and the pro-Israeli legal action - was exposing the action of individuals colluding to have someone sacked for a view that pro-Israeli lobby didn’t like and responding to the fear that this action is possible to punish collusion to silence individuals for a view the pro-Israeli lobby does not like.
the motivation in 1998 for the pro-Israeli lobby doxxing people themselves - was that a legitimate elected Australian political party held a view that they did not like. Furthermore - the damage was much more acute in view of the numbers involved (2,000 - and would have been all 10,000 without media outcry) INCLUDING the location of those members.
Just appalling.
THE PRO-ISRAELI MEDIA PR MACHINE
It is clear the pro-Israeli lobby invests heavily in their social media PR machine and has an extremely organised and planned approach for building a planned narrative, and a response plan for countering negative press and attacking individuals as these situations develop and posts occur.
It is literally 24/7 - so must be a dedicated resource which must be funded by part of the not-for-profit expenditure for these institutions.
The narrative is the most stark evidence of a pro-Israeli echo chamber and local PR exercise virtually always using the collective words “Jewish” rather than the reality of “pro-Israeli” or “Zionist” reinforcing the narrative of:
claiming to represent the whole Jewish community
conflating criticism of Israel with anti-semitism.
There is a standard approach to PR.
Traditional Print and Media Content
The appearance of articles immediately after topical event and always in NewsCorp media outlets indicates the clear ongoing publication arrangement between the pro-Israeli lobby and NewsCorp, noting again the current roles of the NewsCorp journalists who took the 2015 AIJAC funded trip to Israel as earlier in the article.
Other media outlets take longer to respond or pick up on the stories indicating more independent and selective journalism.
The format is typically:
News Corp print media opinion piece with a director ZFA, AIJAC, ECAJ
Vile Islamophobic cartoons by Johannes Leak in The Australian Newspaper (which are notably not shared by the pro-Israeli lobby, so offensive are they)
Sky News Australia interview with media-friendly CEO of ECAJ
Social Media
There are multiple - in fact virtually all - social media channels for all the pro-Israeli groups with a clear organised production of stories and cross-sharing between groups.
The format is typically
Quotations - a series of slick polished Canva slides with large lettering, typically quoting the official commentary of leaders of the groups.
Images or links to print media articles above - which thankfully are mostly behind paywalls for the print media.
Soundbites of Sky News Australia - interviews edited down from Sky News Australia content and shared
Israeli State Propaganda: Sharing directly announcements from Israeli politicians, IDF, spokespeople - Many of which laterally proven to be untrue, or countered with international action
Social Media Advocacy by Pro-Israeli “Community Pillars”
As would be expected the leadership of the pro-Israeli groups (generally AIJAC and ZFA) share their organisations posts on their individual social media accounts (generally X) immediately.
They can generally be a bit more circumspect in their “non-official” commentary which is often very telling.
They often share a broad variety of other posts and reply to counter the opinion of prominent individuals as a supposedly representative voice themselves.
Sometimes this can backfire noting the example of the Chair of AIJAC Mark Leibler taking a swipe at the UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine Francesca Albanese who responded as below.
We await the upcoming civil trial from her case!
Responses to Pro-Israeli Social Media
It is expected there is response to some of the outrageous statements reinforcing the pro-Israeli narrative, much of which is later found to be true.
Notably the negative replies are much greater than positive - but this is only to be expected in view of the statements. It is also to be expected supporting comments would be less - many supporting Jewish individuals would not want to be positively and proactively identifying themselves as pro-Israeli for fear of retribution from true antisemites.
It is worth considering the different types of response to these posts.
Constructive and Valid Responses
There is a difference between valid criticism of pro-Israeli narrative challenging facts and inviting discourse and other negative opportunistic responses unrelated to the original subject matter.
Regarding the pro-Israeli lobby putting further pressure on the Government to change doxxing legislation (as above in response to shutting down a pro-Palestine activist) and beginning to talk in terms of financial damages - you have to call it out:
Graphic Image Responses
Some post very graphic video or images of the mutilation of Palestinian civilians in Gaza which whilst the horrific reality and reflects the emotion of the individual is clearly unrelated to the point made in the original post. Conversely posts of the horrific mutilation of Israeli civilians the 7th October could be posted without getting into the debate on relative numbers. Regardless it seems opportunistic and disrespectful to the individuals to post these images though I do get reinforcing the point.
Antisemitic Responses
Some of the responses are clear examples of hate speech - the epitomy of antisemitic racist tropes and are completely vile, none of which I will duplicate here. Amazingly the social media platforms themselves keep these posts active and often do not put them behind a “Show more replies even if offensive” click button such as X which is offensive to the Jewish community in itself. Perhaps there is a fine line in tuning these algorithms, no idea.
Analysing statistics on the rise of antisemitism
However - I would hope that the proliferation of keyboard warriors no doubt spiking in response to the current crisis - is note taken as equally wighted empirical metrics included in statistics on “the exponential explosion of antisemitism”.
In antisemitic action - there is a huge difference between a coward typing hateful messages on social media and opening themselves to risk taking action by damaging or defacing Jewish property or confronting verbal attacks on Jewish individuals that goes beyond discourse and disagreement or the worst, physical attacks on Jewish individuals.
It is important to break down a single figure on “antisemitic incidents” to the actual type of incident to give a true representation on the response from antisemitic individuals.
Taking action on antisemitism
I am genuinely impressed and respectful of the way the pro-Israeli groups and individual leaders are brave enough to be open to criticism in that the huge amount of responses to their posts with opposing viewpoints are left there as comments and not deleted, appreciating it would be challenging with the huge number of responses even with external assistance, but not impossible.
Another pro-Israel group for example (a right wing pro-Israeli advocacy group with extremists settler links worth ignoring so not named) deletes every single negative comment as they appear AND blocks the account immediately to maintain a publicly visible right-wing echo chamber narrative. This service would need to be outsourced.
I would hope many of these vile posts are kept here specifically to that action can be later taken on the individuals - along with the vile small number of individuals at the Opera House who whilst not chanting “gas the Jews” (as later proven by police) were still chanting vile hate speech. In a different legal and emotive category, still needs action taken.
I personally call out antisemitism on the small number of occasions I see this at pro-palestinian marches, either talking to individuals directly or complaining to organisers.
I also try to correct inappropriate comments on my own social media posts when I see them or call out when people are going too far in response to one of my comments.
Just as I abhor the weaponisation of antisemitism I fully support the full condemnation of true antisemitism that does not leverage the IHRA definition which does not rule out criticism of Israel.
CONCLUSION
After reviewing the organisation of the pro-Israeli Lobby, its activities and direct lobbying on the most senior levels - it is worth considering its legitimacy and the actual impacts.
Lobbying Impact
This article gives an idea of the organisation and scale of the lobbying operation within Australia.
The community organisations deal with both international and domestic policy but with a Jewish population of just 0.45% in Australia it is clear where the focus on lobbying is given the size of the operation.
Bob Carr said in 2022 on reviewing latest numbers of private AIJAC funded trips to Israel:
Carr’s quote sums up the purpose and impact of the lobbying operation. And noting that due to the NFP status - the lobby runs almost completely under the radar against regular checks and balances.
Proper registration of pro-Israeli lobby as foreign influence organisations
The current NFP status loophole for the huge amount of lobbying for foreign Governments preventing any public examination of their activities is ridiculous. The Zionist Federation of Australia for example is 100% focused on Israeli Government policies and all organisations not accept the findings of the UN, ICJ and influence the Australian Government to essentially act against international law.
Clearly the most appropriate registration for these pro-Israeli lobby groups would be as foreign influence organisations with the Attorney-General’s department as detailed earlier in the article:
The ZFA is straight forward - since its activities primarily represent Israeli State interests & policy (if anything also related to the Department of Home Affairs under Immigration regarding the resettlement policies).
AIJAC/ECAJ do mix the grassroots community activities with Israeli State policy lobbying and would need to be separated into different entities (proposed structure in Appendix B - Breaking up pro-Israeli Lobby Groups).
Regardless - proper scrutiny through registration must happen.
The likelihood of registration
In a word - no.
The current Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus is staunchly pro-Israeli. He is unlikely to consider putting these organisations under additional scrutiny.
Clearly his own position is a conflict of interest.
Ironically, Dreyfus’s constituency of Isaacs was named after a Jewish anti-Zionist Sir Isaac Alfred Isaacs, a previous Attorney-General, Chief Justice and 9th Governor General of Australia180.
To conclude on appropriate transparent registration of these organisations.
Apart from the fact it is clearly a foreign influence operation the approach - brazenly documented in its own policy platforms - is both unethical and encouraging illegal activities under international law. They are as complicit as the Australian Government.
When I say “they” I do not mean the decent Jewish people in Australia they are meant to represent - I mean the management of the organisation.
Which leads on to the next point.
The Next Generation of Jewish Representative Groups
It is becoming more and more clear that the deep-rooted pro-Israeli “Jewish community representation groups” are not presenting all Jewish people in Australia apart from the other lobbying activities they undertake outlined in this article.
In Dialogue: Jews on the Borderlands
In 2021 a young Jewish film maker Kea Cranko made a documentary “In Dialogue: Jews on the Borderlands” on the Non-Zionist Jewish Community in Australia.
The purpose of the film is reconciliatory - the spirit of “In Dialogue” is just that - intending to question the beliefs to meet Jews of all beliefs to openly discuss.
The film opens with a fascinating and insightful dialogue by the film maker and her father discussing openly the discomfort and difficulty in addressing the topic - the key issue being the conflation between Judaism and Zionism and an assumed blind loyalty to the State of Israel and all its actions.
📺 Watch the video below:
Questions on Representation
More recently, the validity of self-declared supposedly representative groups such as ECAJ/AIJAC of the views of their members in particular with regard to the State of Israel’s foreign policy is being questioned:
12 Nov 2022 (Sydney Morning Herald) “Australian Jews are changing their views on Israel. And they need a new voice“181
21 Jul 2023 (The Australian) “Australian Jewish Association says indigenous voice to parliament advocacy goes against values“182
12 Aug 2023 (The Guardian) “Australian Zionist groups at odds over criticism of government’s language on Palestinian territories“183
8 Nov 2023 (SBS) “Shoshana is among the Australian Jews speaking out against Israel's military action”184
15 Nov 2023 (The Australian) “Reckless Endangerment: Jewish community organisation slams another“185
It is no wonder there are #notinmyname protests by groups in Australia like the Tzedek Collective and multiple other Jewish groups throughout the world or everyday more moderate opinion - who sadly do not feel represented by their local lobby or pressurised in their own country’s community groups to think otherwise.
The various groups ZFA/AIJAC claim people of the Jewish faith are against The Australian Government’s position as at 12 December supporting the UN General Assembly ceasefire resolutions.
But a group Jewish Australians for a Ceasefire were against their community group position and as at 13th December their open letter petition to The Australian Government186 has been signed by over 1000 Jewish people in Australia FOR the ceasefire187, stating:
“We reject the claim that the Australian Jewish community unanimously supports the actions of the Israeli government. Our Jewish values are incompatible with the unjustified cruelty and reckless disregard for human life and dignity that the Israeli government is displaying.”
The lobby groups haven’t mentioned polling since - a very different story would be told today if another Open Letter was produced by the community after the exposure of the Israeli regime murderous tactics in the first quarter of 2024.
I feel so sorry for the stories from Jewish fellow marchers at the regular Hyde Park protestors in Sydney at their disgust at weaponising the Holocaust, the pro-Israeli lobby appropriating the definition of “antisemitism” as being any criticism of Israel and the fake collectivism that the ingrained “Jewish representative groups” present in Australia claiming to speak for all Jewish people.
See Edie from the Jewish Tdezek Collective giving a wonderful speech early March 2024 at a Hyde Park protest - on the true definition of antisemitism:
Regarding the existing generation of alternative Jewish voices - see video below of Vivian Porzolt from Jews against the Occupation ‘48 giving a stirring speech at a rally in early May 2024 in Hyde Park.
Her parents fled the Nazis and she expressed outrage at the weaponisation of the holocaust, the disingenuous interpretation of antisemitism and the countering of the freedom, equality and liberty cry “from the river to the sea”.
An older voice of reason in contrast to Edie as a younger Jewish person above indicating the multigenerational commonality of views.
The Jewish Council of Australia
In February 2024 a group of lawyers and academics formed the Jewish Council of Australia a more formal, polished group to eloquently represent the broader views of the Jewish community and counter the slick, organised, corporate nature of the pro-Israeli lobby in Australia.
6 Feb 2024 (The Age) - “As Jews, we don’t accept that criticism of Israel’s government is antisemitic"188
Hopefully common sense prevails and more reasonable Jewish voices - perhaps organised by the Jewish Council of Australia to counter the professional organisation of the pro-Israeli lobby - can feel represented in their largest community groups.
The definition of madness…
Is doing the same thing over and over again.
For the current Gaza crisis - the most important thing is of course is to immediately stop the slaughter. Every second counts.
In order for the perpetual cycle of violence for both of Israelis and Palestinians - to cease - actions to take forward must be comprehensive:
Internal to Israel: Address the root-cause of the issue prior to October 7th - that the whole world EXCEPT Israel wants to do
External to Israel: Address the reason for AUKUS unflinching support for Israel.
And the reason for unflinching AUKUS support is the stranglehold and embedded actions of lobby groups such as those listed in this article for Australia to enable the actions of the Israeli State whilst implicating their own communities in the slaughter.
It needs called out and stopped - or at least as proposed in this article - properly structured and registered and monitored as a foreign interest group.
Holding the lobbies to account
It is clear that the embedded pro-Israeli influence in our Governments contributed towards the extended duration of the Gaza Conflict resulting in the exponential amount of Palestinian deaths caused by the IDF Assault.
To prevent this from happening again it is recommended that the influence is reviewed in detail in the cold light of day and transparency - without the fear of being viewed as antisemitic as that is clear to all now just a tactic for preventing criticism of Israel.
A proposed approach to do this is modelled on a People’s Tribunal idea, started by Bertrand Russell in 1966 in a forum on Vietnam and continued with an international forum on Palestine in 2012.
The Russell Tribunal is covered in more detail in the article below with the concluding section proposing how this could look at the root-causes of the Gaza situation outside of Israel from the various foreign pro-Israeli lobby organisations in different countries.
We can only hope as we move forward and address the underlying causes of the conflict in Israel, the causes of not being able to properly discuss or stop the crisis outside Israel are also addressed.
🇬🇧📢🇮🇱 EPILOGUE: An ex-UK Foreign Secretary speaks out on the Israel Lobby
In April 2024 - after yet another IDF atrocity (the murder of 7 World Central Kitchen employees in Gaza189) - a senior member of the UK Conservative Party and a former Foreign Secretary - Sir Alan Duncan had had enough.
The continued impunity was unjustifiable - and time to reveal why the Government response (zero) went against logic never mind international law.
He spoke out directly about the undue influence of pro-Israeli groups in the UK Government.
And he was immediately suspended from the party on “charges of antisemitism”.190
An internal investigating panel exonerated him of all charges with the report released on 16th July.191
Duncan gave a scathing press conference:
noting the parliamentary “Conservative Friends of Israel” group was trying to force the extreme policy of a foreign country on the UK Government (we have ELEVEN Parliamentary “Friends of Israel” groups in Australia - the equivalent here would be Federal Liberal Friends of Israel).
forced by groups claiming to represent the views of the Jewish community (Duncan called out the UK Jewish Board of Deputies and the Campaign Against Antisemitism - equivalents in Australia outlined in this article)
calling for the decoupling of domestic Jewish opinion from the foreign policy influence based on Israeli wishes
Essentially the whole crux of this article - with a blueprint outlined in APPENDIX B - Breaking up pro-Israeli lobby groups - or “decoupling” as Duncan puts it.
If only in Australia there were stronger voices in Government or Party elders such as Duncan who had the courage and strength to speak out without fear of retribution - or already being compromised.
I do note though - like Australia - the media are not picking up on this story.
I wonder why?
For a more detailed article on the pro-Israeli lobby in the UK - where the parallels with Australia are obvious - see below:
UK Pro-Israeli Lobby: looking at the influence both main parties and history pre-election:
UK Election: Two cheeks of the same a*shole
📺 APPENDIX A : MIRIAM MARGOLYES APPEAL TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE OF AUSTRALIA APRIL 2024
On Saturday 6th April 2024 at 11am AET (the timing is important, read on) the Jewish Council of Australia shared a message of support from Miriam Margolyes.
Margolyes address was a purely humanitarian call for a ceasefire, supporting a Jewish organisation in Australia (she is an Australian citizen) doing the same. In her address she:
expressed horror at the actions of Israel as shocking, embarrassing and wicked
condemned the Hamas action
expressed that she just did not understand why all Jewish people - particularly members of Synagogues - do not immediately want to stop what is going on
She appealed in the name of humanity for a ceasefire, pointed out that this is not antisemitic - and indeed in accordance with Jewish tradition.
Full Text of Miriam Margolyes speech
Full text of Miriam Margolyes speech in support of the Jewish Council of Australia (link to original post here) appealing to Jewish people in Australia to effectively cast off pressure from their “representative” lobby groups and call for a ceasefire.
Hello I'm Miriam Margolyes and I wanted to say something in support of the Jewish Council of Australia.
I'm an Australian citizen I'm 83 and I have never been so ashamed of Israel as I am at this moment.
To me it seems as if Hitler has won and he's changed us Jews from being compassionate and caring and do unto others as you would have them do unto you into this vicious genocidal nationalist nation pursuing and killing women and children.
OF COURSE I condemn the Hamas action of course I do, but what WE are doing as Jewish people over in Israel is SHOCKING EMBARRASSING and WICKED and I cannot understand why ALL Jewish people particularly members of Synagogues do not want immediately to stop what is going on.
And in the name of HUMANITY I call upon ALL Jews to shout beg scream for a ceasefire.
It is not anti-semitic to have a different opinion on the wartime actions now.
We have have to do as my mother used to say the right thing. The right thing is a ceasefire to stop the killing, certainly to beg and insist on the release of hostages.
But there is an opinion about Israel's actions which it is not anti-semitic to voice.
What Israel is doing is WRONG it is wicked. And if you want to say this is very bad for Israel.
Please call on your Rabbis on your communities, on all the people you know. Voice your disgust and detestation of the Israeli actions.
Please.
You are then doing the right thing and behaving in accordance with Jewish tradition.
Thank you
Miriam Margolyes Address to the Jewish Council of Australia, 6th April 2024
APPENDIX B - Breaking up pro-Israeli lobby groups
It is suggested a more appropriate structure to streamline the representation of truly Jewish domestic community issues and appropriately register Israel foreign policy lobbying - whilst also getting around questions of representation (not all Jewish people agree with the policies of the State of Israel) could be to split the groups into two different organisations.
Not this split would be appropritate for any community organisation to ensure alignment with appropriate Government departments with appropriate registration.
AIJAC and ECAJ operations could be split into:
🇦🇺🕎 Australian Jewish Community Council (AJCC)
🇮🇱 Israeli State Policy Council (ISPC - Registered Foreign Lobby Group)
The AJCC would focus on representing a truly domestic policy for matters affecting Jewish people in Australia together with a the ISPC being registered lobbying group of private individuals for Israel State matters.
Not using the term “Jewish” for this second lobby group is clear that it does not claim to represent the views all Jewish people in Australia, the same way the actions of Israel do not represent the views of all Jewish people globally.
The ECAJ policy platform sections and detail (above) seems to suggest a fairly clean split of policies appropriate to each organisation:
🇦🇺🕎 Australian Jewish Community Council (AJCC):
Section 2 - Jewish Life in Australia
Section 4 - Holocaust Remembrance, Education and Research
Section 1 - Freedom & Justice in Australia has some ethnic group related policies that would affect Jewish people as much as other minority groups and are appropriate here also.
Section 5 - Social Issues: a broader set of issues not specific to or impacting any minority group more than others. It’s general lobbying here - unclear why considered a Jewish faith issue specifically though eminently decent and sensible policy platform.
The political lobby focus (contacts) would be Local Council, State Government and where appropriate Federal Home Affairs Minister.
🇮🇱 Israeli State Policy Council (ISPC - Registered Foreign Lobby Group):
Section 3 - Israel & International Affairs - completely clear split here. The lobbying and discussions on behalf of Israel by private individuals need to be clear on record as other foreign interest groups.
The lobby focus (contacts) would be the Federal Government; Cabinet and the Foreign Minister.
Either way - International Geopolitical influence of the Australian Government on behalf of Israeli State policy is clearly foreign influence and cannot be truly representing “Jewish” interests of all of the domestic Australian Jewish population so must be treated differently.
Related Articles
Substack Articles:
Antisemitism v Free Speech Statement: Statement on Antisemitism v Free Speech with review and examples of terminology and nuance (Substack article from original FB post 23 Nov)
Article on Israel’s breaches of international law from various sources - UN, NGOs, International Courts, External Legal Opinions:
Pro-Israeli Lobby on US University Campuses:
Pro-Israeli Lobby in the Entertainment Industry:
Pro-Israeli Lobby in the US: Congress & The UN
Lobbying in the US/Australia:
Congress opportunistically redefining antisemitism (6 Dec):
Antisemitism Advertising: Appropriating generic racism narrative and controlling a powerful mailing list (Substack 2 Dec):
Islamophobia and bias in The Australian Media
Weaponising false information:
Holding the lobbies to account - Russell Tribunal:
UK Pro-Israeli Lobby - huge parallels with Australian modus operandi:
Other:
22 Nov Australian Israeli Lobbying Organisations - Community Representation extended to lobbying Israeli Government Policy (Original Sleekit Scotsman Facebook Post) - https://www.facebook.com/sleekit.scotsman2/posts/pfbid02cKHK2HcD4mPP6tYMEDBqki3TNwQ1eboi2BnpW2AaCd3qTv2v5PQv1Fmd62UoHma8l
14 Nov - Q&A Bias on Israel/Palestine Conflict Discussion (Original Sleekit Scotsman Facebook Post) https://www.facebook.com/sleekit.scotsman2/posts/pfbid02DCBWBXTnguXPjmM8BFztG9LWSHLxwkQoqyhymVQGTUnqjXTY2HVwq5N8E1TrbkwEl
14 Nov - UN Rapporteur in address to The Press Club calling out media bias (video segment, Original Sleekit Scotsman Facebook post) - https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1744769855986481
REFERENCES
Australian Bureau of Statistics - Australian Census Data 2021: Religion Snapshot https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/religious-affiliation-australia and Australian Jewish News Jun 30 2022 - “Record number of Jews“ - https://www.australianjewishnews.com/record-number-of-jews
UIA Australia Website - History - http://www.uiaaustralia.org.au/our-history
Keren Haysod Website - “Steven Lowy AM Chairman, World Board of Trustees“ - https://www.kh-uia.org.il/about-us/governors/steven-lowy-am/
Australian Centre for International Justice Press Release Mar 3 2024 - “Joint Media Release: Human Rights Organisations request cancellation of visa to alleged Israeli war criminal Doron Almog, on referral for criminal investigation“ (Dossier on Almog and letter to Minister attached) - https://acij.org.au/joint-media-release-human-rights-organisations-request-cancellation-of-australian-visa-to-alleged-israeli-war-criminal-doron-almog-or-referral-for-criminal-investigation
Worldwide Zionist Organisation (WZO) website - Mission Statement - https://www.wzo.org.il/page/about/mission-statement/en
Haaretz May 9 2022 - “Concerns Mount Over Jewish Agency Chief’s Role in Recent Violence Against Women at Western Wall“ - https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-05-09/ty-article/.premium/concerns-mount-over-jewish-agency-chiefs-role-in-violence-against-women-at-kotel/00000180-c728-dcd5-a793-c7ae0c070000
Zionist Federation of Australia Website - “Who We Are“ - https://www.zfa.com.au/about/what-is-the-zfa/
AIJAC Website “About us” - https://aijac.org.au/about-aijac/
SBS 7 December “Government sending junior minister to Israel 'reflects poorly', Opposition says“ - https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/government-sending-junior-minister-to-israel-reflects-poorly-opposition-says/mbpxb8i35
American Jewish Committee website Mar 22 2018 “AJC Delegation Concludes Visit to Australia“ - https://www.ajc.org/news/ajc-delegation-concludes-visit-to-australia
AUJS Website Policy Platforms - https://aujs.com.au/who-we-are-2/
Australian Charity & Not for Profit Commission registry entry AUJS - https://www.acnc.gov.au/charity/charities/4918b092-39af-e811-a963-000d3ad24077/documents/
Forbes Israel Nov 20 2023 - “Dead to Us: Miriam Adelson in a Special Column for Forbes Israel“ - https://forbes.co.il/e/dead-to-us-miriam-adelson-in-a-special-column-for-forbes-israel/
AUJS Facebook site - PTS (Political Training Seminar) 20204 Speakers - https://www.facebook.com/aujsfb/
AUJS Website Accelerate program - https://aujs.com.au/accelerate-2/
Palestinian Return Centre website: “ANTI-SEMITISM: THE IHRA DEFINITION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES FOR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION”: legal opinion by Geoffrey Robinson KC 2016 - https://prc.org.uk/upload/library/files/Anti-Semitism_Opinion_03.09.18eds.pdf
University of Sydney student magazine Honi Soit Mar 13 2024 “Leaked documents reveal how AUJS lobbies for Zionism“ - https://honisoit.com/2024/03/leaked-documents-reveal-how-aujs-lobbies-for-zionism/
Stand With US Press Release 10 Mar 2022 “StandWithUs Australia Set to Launch“ - https://www.standwithus.com/post/standwithus-australia-set-to-launch
Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commissions (ACNC) - STANDWITHUS AUSTRALIA LIMITED - https://www.acnc.gov.au/charity/charities/45619a6f-3aaf-e811-a962-000d3ad24a0d/profile
Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commissions (ACNC) - NSW JEWISH BOARD OF DEPUTIES HARM PREVENTION FUND - https://www.acnc.gov.au/charity/charities/1ef24cba-3aaf-e811-a962-000d3ad24a0d/profile
+972 Magazine Jan 13 2015 - “StandWithUs to take cash, messaging from Israeli gov’t“ - https://www.972mag.com/standwithus-to-take-cash-messaging-from-israeli-govt/
Stand With Us Press Release 1 Mar 2024 “Michael Gencher appointed new Executive Director of StandWithUs Australia“ - https://www.standwithus.com/post/michael-gencher-appointed-new-executive-director-of-standwithus-australia
Stand With Us March 28 2024 - “StandWithUs Urges Universities Nationwide to Adopt Best Practices for Anti-Israel Protests on Campus“ - https://www.standwithus.com/post/standwithus-urges-universities-nationwide-to-adopt-best-practices-for-anti-israel-protests-on-campus
Honi Soit 8 July 2024 “NSW Council for Civil Liberties condemns USyd Campus Access Policy“ - https://honisoit.com/2024/07/nsw-council-for-civil-liberties-condemns-usyd-campus-access-policy/
Australian Charity & Not for Profit Commission registry entry AIJAC - https://www.acnc.gov.au/charity/charities/0dc70a0b-4641-e911-a978-000d3ad0574c/profile
Australian Charity & Not for Profit Commission registry entry ZFA - https://www.acnc.gov.au/charity/charities/3329a517-39af-e811-a962-000d3ad24a0d/profile
Australian Government Attorney General’s Department Website: Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Factsheet 7: Registration Exemptions - https://www.ag.gov.au/integrity/publications/factsheet-7-registration-exemptions
Australian Government Attorney General’s Department Website: Information for Lobbyists - https://www.ag.gov.au/integrity/australian-government-register-lobbyists/information-lobbyists
DFAT Website May 2021 Submissions on the proposal for a free-trade agreement with Israel. Australian Centre for International Justice response document - https://www.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/feasibility-study-israel-submissions-acij-and-phroc.pdf
Australian Jewish Democratic Society May 26 2021 “Submission to DFAT inquiry on Australia-Israel Free Trade Agreement“ - https://ajds.org.au/dfat-inquiry-israel
AIJAC Facebook 9 Jun 2017 “Three recent graduates of the Rambam Israel Study Tour were guests at an AIJAC luncheon hosted in Melbourne today“ - https://www.facebook.com/aijac.au/photos/three-recent-graduates-of-the-rambam-israel-study-tour-were-guests-at-an-aijac-l/1596525513699914/
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census Quick Stats: Bruce - https://abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/CED204
Executive Council of Australian Jewry - Policy Platform Section 32 Israel and International Relations: https://www.ecaj.org.au/policies/#32
International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism - https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definitions-charters/working-definition-antisemitism
US State Department Website “Defining Antisemitism“ - https://www.state.gov/defining-antisemitism/
Zionist Federation of Australia website: Press Release 8th August 2023 - https://www.zfa.com.au/jewish-community-strongly-criticises-new-position-of-australian-government/
Federal Parliament Website “Parliamentary Networks and Country Groups“ - https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/International_Program/Parliamentary_Networks_and_Country_Groups
AIJAC Press Release Oct 28 2022 - “AIJAC welcomes establishment of IHRA Parliamentary Friendship Group“ - https://aijac.org.au/media-release/aijac-welcomes-establishment-of-ihra-parliamentary-friendship-group/
Federal Parliament Website - “Parliamentary Friendship Groups (non-country)“ - https://www.aph.gov.au/about_parliament/parliamentary_friendship
The Conversation, Michelle Grattan(Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra), Nov 17 2023 “View from The Hill: as war rages in the Middle East, Australian parliamentarians try to promote understanding“ - https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-as-war-rages-in-the-middle-east-australian-parliamentarians-try-to-promote-understanding-217818
The Sydney Morning Herald, Matthew Knott, May 27 2024 “Sharma hosted far right Israel group disavowed by other Jewish associations“ - https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/sharma-hosted-far-right-israel-group-disavowed-by-other-jewish-associations-20240524-p5jggf.html
Conservative Friends of Israel 2015 December 17 2015 “DECEMBER 2015: AUSTRALIA ISRAEL UK LEADERSHIP DIALOGUE“ - https://cfoi.co.uk/december-2015-australia-israel-uk-leadership-dialogue/
They Work For You “Changes to the Register of Members' Interests
John Spellar“ - https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/10558/john_spellar/warley
J-Wire News Judy Singer Feb 18 2015 “Australia-Israel Labor Dialogue Launched“ - https://www.jwire.com.au/einat-peter/
Parliamentary Hansard Questions without notice Middle East: Wed 9 Aug 2023 - https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=CHAMBER;id=chamber%2Fhansards%2F27122%2F0140;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansards%2F27122%2F0181%22
Crikey, Emma Elsworthy Dec 22 2023 - “Labor elders launch Labor Friends of Israel group“ - https://www.crikey.com.au/2023/12/22/labor-elders-launch-labor-friends-of-israel-group/
The New York Times Mar 17 2018 “Spy Contractor’s Idea Helped Cambridge Analytica Harvest Facebook Data” - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/27/us/cambridge-analytica-palantir.html
CBS News Sep 29 2020 - “Amnesty International slams Palantir's human rights record“ - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/palantir-human-rights-record-amnesty-international/
C4ISRNet 31 May 2024 “Palantir wins contract to expand access to Project Maven AI tools“ - https://www.c4isrnet.com/artificial-intelligence/2024/05/30/palantir-wins-contract-to-expand-access-to-project-maven-ai-tools/
Businesswire May 30 2024 “Palantir Selected by Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) to Participate in Scaling Data Analytics and AI Capabilities Across the Department of Defense in Support of CJADC2 Strategy“ - https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240530260030/en/Palantir-Selected-by-Chief-Digital-and-Artificial-Intelligence-Office-CDAO-to-Participate-in-Scaling-Data-Analytics-and-AI-Capabilities-Across-the-Department-of-Defense-in-Support-of-CJADC2-Strategy
The Age Fri 21st June 2024 - “Dan Andrews joins pro-Israel group denounces antisemitism and terror“ - https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/dan-andrews-joins-pro-israel-group-denounces-antisemitism-and-terrorism-20240620-p5jner.html
Sydney Morning Herald 17 Mar 2024 “Dave Sharma and Dan Andrews lead Israel Delegation“- https://www.smh.com.au/cbd/dave-sharma-and-dan-andrews-lead-israel-delegation-20240317-p5fd1l.html
National Indigenous Times Apr 8 2024 Dechlan Brendan “Aboriginal-Palestinian solidarity firm in the face of recent Peris comments“ - https://nit.com.au/08-04-2024/9908/Aboriginal-Palestinian-solidarity
ABC News 15 Aug 2022 - “NSW Labor Party frontbencher Walt Secord steps down amid bullying claims as fresh allegations emerge“ - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-15/nsw-labor-party-frontbencher-walt-secord-resigns-over-bullying/101332724
J-Wire Dec 18 2018 “Liberal Friends salutes Morrison“ - https://www.jwire.com.au/liberal-friends-salutes-morrison/
ABC 27 Oct 2023 “Waverley Council sacks deputy mayor who backed move to condemn Israel's bombing of Gaza“ - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-27/waverley-council-sacks-deputy-mayor-over-palestine-amendment/103031094
Australian Jewish News Oct 20 2023 “Waverley Council condemns Hamas assault, pledges $10,000 to community“ - https://www.australianjewishnews.com/waverley-council-condemns-hamas-assault-pledges-10000-to-community/
Australian Jewish News Aug 25 2017 “Lib Friends of Israel Vic founded“ - https://www.australianjewishnews.com/lib-friends-israel-vic-founded/
Christians 4 Israel Sep 8 2018 “Victorian Liberal Friends of Israel Launched 22 July“ - https://c4israel.com.au/articles/victorian-liberal-friends-of-israel-launched-22-july/
The Canberra Times Feb 2 2024 “Grants for Australians harmed in Hamas attack on Israel“ - https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8507512/grants-for-australians-harmed-in-hamas-attack-on-israel/
Atorney-General Press Release 19 Oct 2023 “Supporting Australian communities affected by Hamas attacks on Israel and ongoing conflict“ - https://ministers.ag.gov.au/media-centre/supporting-australian-communities-affected-hamas-attacks-israel-and-ongoing-conflict-19-10-2023 and Grant Connect GA352404 13 Nov 2023 - https://www.grants.gov.au/Ga/Show/97a480cd-910a-474c-90ab-a616dd808a72
ABC News Fri 15 Mar 2024 “Labor insiders say Muslim and Arab leaders incensed over distribution of social cohesion grants five months into war“ - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-15/muslim-communities-unhappy-over-social-cohesion-grants/103589888
Attorney General Press Release 18 Oct 2023 “Securing faith-based places“ - https://ministers.ag.gov.au/media-centre/securing-faith-based-places-18-10-2023
Victorian State Government 9 May 2024 “Jewish Community Security Infrastructure Program“ - https://www.vic.gov.au/jewish-community-security-infrastructure-program
NSW State Government Media Release 13 Dec 2023 “Minns Government to deliver safety, security and resilience for faith groups across NSW“ - https://www.nsw.gov.au/media-releases/safety-security-and-resilience-for-faith-groups
SBS 15 May 2024 “'From the river to the sea': Labor senator breaks ranks to accuse Israel of genocide“ - https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/from-the-river-to-the-sea-labor-senator-breaks-ranks-to-accuse-israel-of-genocide/sutrftl2c
Sydney Morning Herald Jun 18 2024 “Labor senator Payman breaks ranks again on Palestine“ - https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/labor-senator-payman-breaks-ranks-again-on-palestine-20240618-p5jmrh.html
ABC 25 Jun 2024 “Labor senator could remain in party despite defiance on Palestinian recognition“ -https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-25/labor-senator-defies-party-on-palestinian-recognition/104020950
The Guardian 30 Jun 2024 “Fatima Payman suspended from Labor caucus over vow to cross the floor again on Palestine“ - https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jun/30/fatima-payman-defies-cold-shoulder-from-labor-colleagues-to-declare-she-would-cross-floor-again-on-palestine
Prime Minister of Australia Media Release 9 July 2024 - “Special envoy to combat Antisemitism“ - https://www.pm.gov.au/media/special-envoy-combat-antisemitism
Executive Council of Australian Jewry 24 May 2021 - “ECAJ President Jillian Segal AO’s address at NSW’s Rally for Peace and Solidarity with Israel“ - https://www.ecaj.org.au/ecaj-president-jillian-segal-aos-address-at-nsws-rally-for-peace-and-solidarity-with-israel
ABC 12 Nov 2023 - “Tens of thousands gather across Australia for Israel-Gaza rallies“ - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-12/israel-gaza-war-protests-in-melbourne-sydney-australia/103095150
Executive Council of Australian Jewry 24 May 2021 - “ECAJ President Jillian Segal AO’s address at NSW’s Rally for Peace and Solidarity with Israel“ - https://www.ecaj.org.au/ecaj-president-jillian-segal-aos-address-at-nsws-rally-for-peace-and-solidarity-with-israel
ZFA X Account Nov 12 2023 - Joint statement Jeremy Leibler and Jillian Segal - https://x.com/ZionistFedAus/status/1723593122545041818
Human Rights lawyer Rawan Arraf X Jul 10 2024 - https://x.com/rawanarraf/status/1810882182287900886/photo/1
ECAJ Press Release Oct 14 2021 - “Australia pledges to embrace the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism“ - https://www.ecaj.org.au/australia-pledges-to-embrace-the-ihra-working-definition-of-antisemitism/
Australian Jewish News Sep 3 2023 “Tackling the issues around Israel, antisemitism“ - https://www.australianjewishnews.com/tackling-the-issues-around-israel-antisemitism/
Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) 4 year study of Parliamentary Trips 2018 - 2022 (declared on the Parliamentary Register) - https://apan.org.au/learn-more/israeli-junkets/
Sydney Morning Herald Nov 24 2023 “Journalists urge ‘improved’ coverage of Israel-Hamas war in open letter“ - https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/journalists-urge-improved-coverage-of-israel-hamas-war-in-open-letter-20231124-p5emmf.html
Australian Strategic Policy Institute (26 Jun 2018) 8 year study of Parliamentary Trips (2010-2018) “Who funds Federal Parliamentarians’ overseas travel?“- https://www.aspi.org.au/report/who-funds-federal-parliamentarians-overseas-travel
Crikey.com 3 Nov 2023 - https://www.crikey.com.au/2023/11/03/australian-journalists-politicians-trips-israel-palestine/
Crikey.com Nov 29 2023 by Naomi Kaltmann “Lobbying is an insidious practice — but what happens on a parliamentary trip to Israel?“ - https://www.crikey.com.au/2023/11/29/israel-palestine-trips-lobbying-parliament-nomi-kaltmann/
Sydney Morning Herald July 10 2023 - “Politicians jet to the Middle East amid Euro summer holiday rush“ - https://www.smh.com.au/cbd/politicians-head-to-the-middle-east-amid-euro-summer-rush-20230709-p5dmwf.html
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies Website - https://nswjbd.org.au/journalists-mission/
NSW Parliamentary Hansard 28 Feb 2013 “PARLIAMENTARY FRIENDS OF ISRAEL STUDY TOUR“ - https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Hansard/Pages/HansardResult.aspx#/docid/HANSARD-1820781676-49833/HANSARD-1820781676-49833
Australian Jewish News March 21 2013- https://www.australianjewishnews.com/secord-champions-israel-in-parliament/ (link from Crikey.com register of MPs and Journalists with paid trips to Israel as above)
NSW Parliamentary Hansard 26 Feb 2020 “ISRAEL STUDY TOUR“ - https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Hansard/Pages/HansardResult.aspx#/docid/HANSARD-1820781676-81458
Jommy Tee (https://michaelwest.com.au/author/jommytee/) Twitter Jan 3 2024 -
Australia Jewish News Friday Aug 1 2008 “Liberal rising star affirms support for Israel“ - https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2945921942/view
The Guardian 27 Aug 2002 “We must destroy Palestinian threat, army chief says“ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/aug/27/israel
Australian Jewish News “Pollies Praise Israel” Jun 24 2014 - https://www.australianjewishnews.com/pollies-praise-israel/
Australian Jewish News May 11 2023 “Liberal MPs report back from Israel“ - https://www.australianjewishnews.com/liberal-mps-report-back-from-israel/
Sydney Morning Herald 16 Nov 2023 -”It’s off the Charts - how antisemitism surged after October 7” - https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/it-s-off-the-charts-how-antisemitism-surged-after-october-7-20231116-p5ekm0.html
Pearls and Irritations Journal Nov 22 2023 - “Antisemitism and criticism of Israel: open letter to Julian Leeser MP“ https://johnmenadue.com/antisemitism-and-criticism-of-israel-open-letter-to-julian-leeser-mp/
SBS 7 December “Government sending junior minister to Israel 'reflects poorly', Opposition says“ - https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/government-sending-junior-minister-to-israel-reflects-poorly-opposition-says/mbpxb8i35
Sky News December 13 2023 - “Anthony Albanese blasted for ceasefire call between Hamas and Israel as Labor MP Josh Burns breaks ranks with cabinet“ - https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/politics/anthony-albanese-blasted-for-ceasefire-call-between-hamas-and-israel-as-labor-mp-josh-burns-breaks-ranks-with-cabinet/news-story/7d7dd9e75a4a47a8195459199c011af3
Australian Jewish News Jul 10 2024 - “Victorian MPs’ ‘life-changing’ visit to Israel“ - https://www.australianjewishnews.com/victorian-mps-life-changing-visit-to-israel/
US Naval War College: International Law Studies Volume 73: The Commander’s handbook on the law of naval operations (1999) Chapter 12: “Deception during armed conflict“ - https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/ils/vol73/iss1/
Herald Sun 9 Jun 2024- “Backroom Baz: Vic MP’s secret squirrel mission revealed“ - https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/backroom-baz-seven-liberal-mps-embarked-on-a-tour-of-israel-this-week/news-story/323915e2d066d83a51ff1c0ace1fd9a7
Everything is Fine* Behiiv - Alex McKinnon - Jul 24 2024 “The Israeli "study missions" for Australian union leaders“ -
https://everythingisfine.beehiiv.com/p/the-israeli-study-missions-for-australian-union-leaders
Hansard Monday 18th March - Middle East Motions: (1) House of Representatives: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard/Hansard_Display?bid=chamber/hansardr/27607/&sid=0176 (2) Senate: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard/Hansard_Display?bid=chamber/hansards/27579/&sid=0022
Hansard Parliamentary Business 29 May 2024 - https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard/Hansard_Display?bid=chamber/hansardr/27640/&sid=0000
Sydney Morning Herald Oct 19 2018 - “Israel forged Australian passports before, Kevin Rudd reveals in new book“ - https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/israel-forged-australian-passports-before-kevin-rudd-reveals-in-new-book-20181018-p50acp.html
The Guardian 16 July 2004 - “'Mossad spies' jailed over New Zealand passport fraud“ - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/jul/16/israel
The Sydney Morning Herald May 24 2010 - “Israel responsible for faking Aussie passports, diplomat expelled: Smith“ - https://www.smh.com.au/national/israel-responsible-for-faking-aussie-passports-diplomat-expelled-smith-20100524-w5a3.html
Time Magazine - July 29 2014 - “The Man Who Haunts Israel“ - https://time.com/khaled-mashaal/
Australian Financial Review June 20 2020 “The faceless men who started it all have no regrets“ - https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/the-faceless-men-who-started-it-all-have-no-regrets-20200617-p553dz
The Mandarin Oct 19 2022 “Israel, and Israel lobby, enraged that Australia has its own foreign policy“ - https://www.themandarin.com.au/203000-israel-and-israel-lobby-enraged-that-australia-has-its-own-foreign-policy/
Sky News Oct 29 2023 “Paul Keating declines to sign former Prime Ministers' joint statement supporting Israel and condemning Hamas“ - https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/paul-keating-declines-to-sign-former-prime-ministers-joint-statement-supporting-israel-and-condemning-hamas/news-story/26799a3e46f7532d7df1d1ac26de6a9d
The Australian Financial Review, Andrew Clark Jul 18 2020 “How Mark Leibler exercises his power and influence“ https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/how-mark-leibler-exercises-his-power-and-influence-20200715-p55c68
Sydney Morning Herald Apr 10 2014 - “Bob Carr's texts to Gillard reveal 'extraordinary' influence pro-Israel lobby had on former PM“ - https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/bob-carrs-texts-to-gillard-reveal--extraordinary-influence-proisrael-lobby-had-on-former-pm-20140410-36dys.html
UN Digital Library 30 Aug 2012 “A/67/341: Oil slick on Lebanese shores : report of the Secretary-General“ - https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/734476?v=pdf
J-Wire November 27 2013 - “Jerusalem Prize for Julia“ - https://www.jwire.com.au/jerusalem-prize-for-julia/
The Sydney Morning Herald November 25 2013 “Tony Abbott quietly shifts UN position to support Israeli settlements, upsetting Palestinians“ - https://www.smh.com.au/national/tony-abbott-quietly-shifts-un-position-to-support-israeli-settlements-upsetting-palestinians-20131124-2y434.html
The Guardian 15 Jun 2014 “Tony Abbott: 'disputed' East Jerusalem merely a clarification“ - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/15/tony-abbott-disputed-east-jerusalem-merely-a-clarification
World Jewish Congress 29 Mar 2010 “Former Australian PM calls for expulsion of Israeli diplomats“ - https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/former-australian-pm-calls-for-expulsion-of-israeli-diplomats?printable=true
The Guardian, Katharine Murphy 22 Feb 2017 “Turnbull rebukes Israel critics ahead of Benjamin Netanyahu visit“ - https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/22/australia-turnbull-rebukes-israel-critics-ahead-of-benjamin-netanyahu-visit
Australia Strategic Policy Institute: The Strategist, Andrew Bergin - 14 Nov 2017 “The Australia–Israel Be’er Sheva Dialogue: round three“ - https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/the-australia-israel-beer-sheva-dialogue-round-three/
Australia Strategic Policy Institute:Anthony Bergin, 31 Oct 2016 - “The wattle and the olive: A new chapter in Australia and Israel working together“ https://www.aspi.org.au/report/wattle-and-olive-new-chapter-australia-and-israel-working-together
ECAJ Press Release 22 Feb 2018 “Restructure of ECAJ Professional Team“ - https://www.ecaj.org.au/restructure-ecaj-professional-team/
Defence Connect 9 July 2018 - “Minister’s visit to Israel shows potential for Australian industry“- https://www.defenceconnect.com.au/joint-capabilities/2542-minister-s-visit-to-israel-shows-potential-for-australian-industry
Parliamentary Friends of Israel Press Release 7 June 2001 “Arafat must deliver ceasefire
“ https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/media/pressrel/J4A46/upload_binary/j4a461.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf#search=%22media/pressrel/J4A46%22
Australian Government Defence website - 22 August 2018 “Varley and Rafael Australia - a high tech partnership“ - https://www.minister.defence.gov.au/media-releases/2018-08-22/varley-and-rafael-australia-high-tech-partnership
i24newsTV Oct 21 2021 - “Australia to adopt IHRA definition of antisemitism“ - https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/asia-pacific/1634188711-australia-to-adopt-ihra-definition-of-antisemitism
Minster for Home Affairs Press Release 4 Mar 2022 - https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/KarenAndrews/Pages/hamas-listed-as-terrorist-organisation.aspx
Sydney Morning Herald Oct 16 2018 “Scott Morrison accused of cynical, reckless politics following Israel move“ - https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/scott-morrison-accused-of-cynical-reckless-politics-following-israel-move-20181016-p509um.html
SBS 22 November 2019 - “Jerusalem Prize: Scott Morrison warns of the United Nations' seeping 'anti-Semitism'“ - https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/jerusalem-prize-scott-morrison-warns-of-the-united-nations-seeping-anti-semitism/e74kl2ktd
The Aug 17 Oct 2022 “Australia drops recognition of West Jerusalem as Israeli capital“ - https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/australia-drops-recognition-of-west-jerusalem-as-israeli-capital-20221017-p5bqic.html
AFR Aug 8 2023 - “Jewish groups fume over Labor’s Israel shift“ - https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/jewish-groups-fume-over-labor-s-israel-shift-20230808-p5duuk
Australian mission to the UN - Press Release 12 December - https://unny.mission.gov.au/unny/231212_UNGA_10th_ESS_Protection_Civilians_Upholding_Legal_Humanitarian_Obligation_Explanation_Vote.html
The Guardian - 20 Dec 2023 “Red Sea crisis: why the Albanese government said no to the United States’ warship request“ - https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/20/red-sea-crisis-why-the-albanese-government-said-no-to-the-united-states-warship-request
The Guardian 15 Jan 2024 “Albanese says Australia will not participate in ICJ case against Israel and instead focus on ‘political solution’“ - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/15/albanese-australia-un-icj-genocide-trial-israel-south-africa-wont-participate
The Australian 15 Jan 2024- “Wong won’t visit site of Hamas atrocities” - https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/penny-wong-will-not-go-to-october-7-massacre-sites-during-israel-visit-sparking-fury-in-jerusalem/news-story/1a87e7f50397c22c75cf2b00d424510f
News.com.au 16 Jan 2024 - “Anthony Albanese defends Penny Wong over controversial Israel move“ - https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/anthony-albanese-defends-penny-wong-over-controversial-israel-move/news-story/36f494e73a10cf4229291f8dfbcf2c70
The Guardian 17 Jan 2024- “Penny Wong affirms ‘solidarity’ with Israel as she meets with Hamas hostage relatives“ - https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/17/penny-wong-meets-israel-katz-isaac-herzog-israel-gaza-palestine-war-meets-hamas-hostages
The Guardian 15 Mar 2024 - “Australia reinstates funding to Unrwa to provide aid in Gaza“ - https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/mar/15/unrwa-funding-australia-reinstates-gaza-aid-october-7-hamas-claims#:~:text=The%20foreign%20minister%2C%20Penny%20Wong%2C%20announced%20the%20decision%20to%20unfreeze,and%20the%20United%20Arab%20Emirates.
The Guardian 10 Apr 2024 - “What did Penny Wong say about recognising Palestinian statehood – and is Australia at odds with its allies?“ - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/10/penny-wong-palestine-state-israel-gaza-war-anu-speech
DFAT Website 10 May - “UN General Assembly - Tenth Emergency Special Session: Illegal Israeli Actions in Occupied East Jerusalem and the Rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory - explanation of vote“ - https://www.dfat.gov.au/news/speech/un-general-assembly-tenth-emergency-special-session-illegal-israeli-actions-occupied-east-jerusalem-and-rest-occupied-palestinian-territory-explanation-vote
Embassy of Israel in Australia: History of Bilateral Relations - https://embassies.gov.il/canberra/Relations/Pages/Bilateral-Treaties-and-Agreements.aspx
Australian Jewish News March 22 2010 “Proposals to beef up Australia-Israel ties“ - https://www.australianjewishnews.com/proposals-to-beef-up-australia-israel-ties/
J-Wire News October 27 2010 - “Rudd to lead largest ever delegation to Israel“ - https://www.jwire.com.au/rudd-to-lead-largest-ever-delegation-to-israel/
Parliamentary Info Hansard Tuesday 14th June 2011 Page 2746 Israel (Question 242) Senator Bob Brown - https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=CHAMBER;id=chamber%2Fhansards%2F83ab1031-d7b8-460e-8b59-2e30512389e6%2F0156;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansards%2F83ab1031-d7b8-460e-8b59-2e30512389e6%2F0033%22
Open Politics 25 Jan 2022 - “Political junkets and influence“ - https://openpolitics.au/analysis/foreign-junkets
NewsWeek Jan 12 2021 “Sheldon Adelson Gave Trump and Republicans Over $424 Million Since 2016“ - https://www.newsweek.com/sheldon-adelson-donald-trump-republicans-donations-1560883
Defence Connect 22 May 2023 - “Former PM Scott Morrison joins US defence think tank“ - https://www.defenceconnect.com.au/joint-capabilities/12002-scomo-joins-cnas-defence-think-tank-in-us
Australian Embassy Israel website “Doing business with Australia“- https://israel.embassy.gov.au/tavv/trade.html
AICC Website - Israel - https://aiccnsw.org.au/innovation-delegations/israel/
Michelle Blum LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-blum-8691928/details/experience/
Sydney Uni News 11 Mar 2024 “University of Sydney Senate elects David Thodey AO as new Chancellor“ - https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2024/03/11/university-of-sydney-senate-elects-new-chancellor.html
AICC Website Past Trade Missions, - https://aiccnsw.org.au/past-trade-missions/
The Guardian 28 Feb 2017 - “Mike Baird takes job with National Australia Bank a month after quitting politics“ - https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/28/mike-baird-takes-job-with-national-australia-bank-a-month-after-quitting-politics
AICC Website, Past Events - https://aiccnsw.org.au/past-events/
Investor Daily 21 Sep 2023 “Frydenberg named Goldman Sachs ANZ chair“ -https://www.investordaily.com.au/appointments/53986-frydenberg-named-goldman-sachs-anz-chair
Goldman Sachs Press Release 21 Jul 2022 “Josh Frydenberg Joins Goldman Sachs as Senior Regional Adviser for Asia Pacific“ - https://www.goldmansachs.com/media-relations/press-releases/2022/announcement-07-21-2022.html
The Australian Financial Review Feb 2 2022 “Josh Frydenberg takes up ABL’s proxy jihad“ - https://www.afr.com/rear-window/josh-frydenberg-takes-up-abl-s-proxy-jihad-20220202-p59tc7
The Australian Financial Review Nov 29 2023 “Never again for Jews must be never again for anyone“ -https://www.afr.com/world/middle-east/never-again-for-jews-must-be-never-again-for-anyone-20231129-p5eno0
The Jewish Independent 4 July 2017 “Being David Gonski“ - https://thejewishindependent.com.au/being-david-gonski
The Australian Financial Review Oct 26 2023 “All of Israeli society has mobilised in the face of terror“ - https://www.afr.com/world/middle-east/all-of-israeli-society-has-mobilised-in-the-face-of-terror-20231023-p5ee7z
Crikey 29 Nov 2014 “Israel still pulls business heavy hitters, but Palestine off the table“ - https://www.crikey.com.au/2014/07/29/israel-still-pulls-business-heavy-hitters-but-palestine-off-the-table/
Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce Website Events - https://portal.aiccnsw.org.au/all-events/
Michael West Media Jommy Lee Mar 31 2024 - “Investigation: powerbroker Mark Leibler and Australia’s Zionist connections with Israel’s defence web“ - https://michaelwest.com.au/australia-zionist-defence-ties-with-israel/
Australian Jewish News Dec 21 2015 - “Rambam journos report back“ - https://www.australianjewishnews.com/rambam-journos-report-back/
The Guardian 22 Nov 2015 “Sharri Markson: journalist at the Australian in run-in with Israeli security“ - https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/nov/22/sharri-markson-journalist-at-the-australian-in-run-in-with-israeli-security
The Guardian 29 Jul 2017 - “Pro-Israel advocates in Australia targeted three journalists, new book claims“ - https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jul/29/pro-israel-advocates-in-australia-targeted-three-journalists-new-book-claims
AIJAC Website Sep 26 2016- “ABC’s McNeill vowed to be an advocacy journo, and she delivered“ - https://aijac.org.au/update/abc-s-mcneill-vowed-to-be-an-advocacy-journo-and/
Sydney Morning Herald Nov 24 2023 “Journalists urge ‘improved’ coverage of Israel-Hamas war in open letter“ - https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/journalists-urge-improved-coverage-of-israel-hamas-war-in-open-letter-20231124-p5emmf.html
Crikey.com Nov 27 “Nine staff accuse editors of ‘hypocrisy’ for sidelining employees who signed Israel-Palestine letter“ - https://www.crikey.com.au/2023/11/27/nine-editors-hypocrisy-israel-palestine-letter/
ABC Q&A Programme stream Israel/Gaza debate 13 Nov - https://www.abc.net.au/qanda/the-israel-gaza-war/103061842
Al Jazeera 27 Nov 2023 - “Francesca Albanese: Western media is living in an "alternate reality" | The Listening Post“ - quote URL split up to avoid embedding - https://www.youtube.com/. watch?v=R1X4q4Ue5a8
The Guardian 27 Feb 2024 - “Israel is deliberately starving Palestinians, UN rights expert says“ - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/27/un-israel-food-starvation-palestinians-war-crime-genocide
Daily Mail 16 Jan 2024- “Read the secret WhatsApp messages exposing a co-ordinated campaign to dump Antoinette Lattouf from the ABC“ -https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12966431/Antoinette-Lattouf-abc-ita-buttrose-israel-palestine-jewish.html
ABC Media Watch 18 Mar 2024 - https://x.com/ABCmediawatch/status/1769670559728799848?s=20
Crikey.com 12 Dec 2023 “Viral footage showed protesters chanting ‘gas the Jews’. Nobody can verify it” https://www.crikey.com.au/2023/12/13/viral-footage-gas-the-jews-police-factcheckers-unverified/
Sydney Morning Herald Feb 2 2024 - “Police review finds no evidence ‘gas the Jews’ phrase chanted at Sydney Opera House protest“ - https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/police-review-finds-no-evidence-antisemitic-phrase-chanted-at-sydney-opera-house-protest-20240202-p5f1v7.html
BBC News 26 Jan “Antoinette Lattouf: ABC presenter sacked over Gaza post ignites row in Australia” - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-68064851
Women’s Agenda 4th June 2024 “Antoinette Lattouf was sacked by the ABC, Fair Work Commission finds“ https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/antoinette-lattouf-was-sacked-by-the-abc-fair-work-commission-finds/
Australian Financial Review 9 July 1998 “Magazine prints One Nation list“ - https://www.afr.com/politics/magazine-prints-one-nation-list-19980709-k881p
Jews against racist Zionism - “ISAACS, Isaac. Sir Isaac Isaacs, first Australia-born Australian Governor-General, denounced Zionism“ - https://sites.google.com/site/jewsagainstracistzionism/isaacs-isaac-sir-isaac-isaacs-first-australia-born-australian-governor-general-denounced-zionism
Sydney Morning Herald Nov 12 2022 “Australian Jews are changing their views on Israel. And they need a new voice“- https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/australian-jews-are-changing-their-views-on-israel-and-they-need-a-new-voice-20221109-p5bwv1.html
The Australian 21 July 2023 “Australian Jewish Association says indigenous voice to parliament advocacy goes against values“- https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/australian-jewish-association-says-indigenous-voice-to-parliament-advocacy-goes-against-values/news-story/2e923e29f19d3d14ca075cf64dcc1145
The Guardian 12 Aug 2023 “Australian Zionist groups at odds over criticism of government’s language on Palestinian territories“ - https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/12/australian-zionist-groups-at-odds-over-criticism-of-governments-language-on-palestinian-territories
SBS Australia 8th November 2023 - Shoshana is among the Australian Jews speaking out against Israel's military action: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/shoshana-is-among-the-australian-jews-speaking-out-against-israels-military-action/2igu1kwqg
The Australian 15 Nov 2023 “Reckless Endangerment: Jewish community organisation slams another“- https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/reckless-endangerment-jewish-community-organisation-slams-another/news-story/9b062d5085cc9a63979918f5f6295f31
Petition by Jewish Australians for a Ceasefire - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdK2g-Tyz_gimUNZiTy5pr9lKtG5hrwMAs5gderQ2-Q-WvUOw/viewform
The Guardian 7 Dec - 1000 Australian Jewish people so far signed petition “Australian Jews Call for Ceasefire in Gaza“ - https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2023/nov/07/australia-news-live-daylesford-crash-victims-driver-anthony-albanese-xi-jinping-china-visit-interest-rates-rise-rba-politics
Jewish Council of Australia Press Release Feb 6 2024 - “Op Ed: As Jews, we don’t accept that criticism of Israel’s government is antisemitic“ - https://www.jewishcouncil.com.au/media/we-dont-accept-criticism-of-israel-is-antisemitic
Reuters Apr 4 2024 “Chef Jose Andres says Israel targeted his aid workers 'systematically, car by car'“ - https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/chef-jose-andres-says-israel-targeted-his-aid-workers-systematically-car-by-car-2024-04-03/12
The Independent 5 Apr 2024 “Alan Duncan faces expulsion from Tory party for attacking ‘pro Israel extremist’ Conservatives“ - https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-peer-israel-gaza-investigation-duncan-b2523466.html
The Guardian 17 Jul 2024 “Alan Duncan attacks Tory party after being cleared over antisemitism claims“ - https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/16/alan-duncan-attacks-tory-party-after-being-cleared-over-antisemitism-claims