Australia has recently welcomed a new Israeli ambassador. Taking over from Amir Maimon (who served as ambassador to Australia from 2022 to 2026) is Dr Hillel Newman. Prior to his current role, Ambassador Newman served as Senior Policy Advisor to the Knesset (2024–2026) and as Chief of Policy Staff in the Bureau of Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs (2023–2024). Although these credentials alone qualify him for the role, Dr Newman also holds a PhD in Jewish history and served as a professor of Jewish history, teaching graduate courses at Bar Ilan University and Boston University. He has authored and published a book on Jewish sectarianism during the Hellenistic and Roman period, as well as serving as a key lecturer on Judaism in the NATO Defense College.
Dr Newman takes up his post in Australia at a crucial time, particularly where it concerns Australia’s ongoing battle against antisemitism and the incessant media criticism leveled at Israel regarding the conflict against Iran and its terrorist proxies. Additionally, Dr Newman faces off against an Australian Government which unashamedly promotes Palestinian nationalism due to their reliance on the Muslim vote at election time. It is against this backdrop that Dr Newman recently wrote: “It is sad to say this, but the truth must be said. Throughout my 26-year career as an Israeli diplomat, I have never seen such levels of hatred of Israel, and of Jews, as I experience and witness here in Australia. I served as ambassador in two Muslim countries. Yet I did not see these levels of hatred.”
The two Muslim countries he is referring to are Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Those two countries, he went on to write, contain “non-radicalised and unpoliticised Muslims” who, he said, showed more understanding of the issues related to Israel than what he called “the obsessive herds on the streets of Australia calling for Israel’s annihilation and protesting against Israel’s existence.”
Dr Newman’s statements are timely, given that the Australian Labor Party National Conference is running from 23 to 25 July 2026. In the Draft National Platform, which outlines the party’s key policy priorities, there is a section entitled “Israel and Palestine.” Although there were nine policy points in that section, the introductory point clearly reaffirmed the government’s support for a two-state solution: “Labor has long supported a two-state solution, and the right of Israel and Palestine to exist, as the only path towards a future where Palestinians and Israelis can live in freedom, safety and security.”
What will it take for the Australian Government (and other Western nations) to realise that the “land for peace” paradigm does not achieve peace at all!? In fact, it may as well have been coined “land for terror” such is the outcome of this model. Predictably, the Israeli embassy launched a passionate defense, claiming: “The root cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict lies in our neighbors’ refusal to accept the existence of the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, in any borders.”
Additional criticism was leveled at the fact that although the Labor Party unreservedly condemns Hamas in the Draft National Platform, there were no calls for disarmament, nor any insistence that a pathway to peace include Palestinian Authority reform.
On 21 September 2025, the Prime Minister of Australia (Anthony Albanese) and the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Penny Wong) released a joint statement which read, in part: “The President of the Palestinian Authority has restated its recognition of Israel’s right to exist, and given direct undertakings to Australia, including commitments to hold democratic elections and enact significant reform to finance, governance and education. The terrorist organisation Hamas must have no role in Palestine. Further steps, including the establishment of diplomatic relations and opening of embassies, will be considered as the Palestinian Authority makes progress on its commitments to reform.” Yet, these conditions do not appear in the Draft National Platform, leaving us to wonder if the Labor Party is walking back its position in order to appease Muslim voters.
Alarmingly, the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) claims that the policy position does not go far enough and went so far as to condemn the Israeli embassy for weighing in. In a stunning display of hypocrisy, APAN President Nasser Mashni said, “Australians decide Australian policy.” So, if that is the case, why can’t Israelis decide Israeli policy without constant interference from the United Nations and nearly every other country on the planet!? Mashni continued his tirade by arguing, “There is an important distinction between diplomatic engagement with the Australian Government and a foreign state publicly attempting to influence the internal policy-making processes of an Australian political party.” Again, the APAN’s bias has blinded them to the fact that they fully support the Australian government engaging in an action which they condemn Israel for.
The reality is that the Australian Labor Party is only attempting to reinvigorate the two-state solution in order to relieve domestic political pressure, particularly from the pro-Palestinian faction which is now entrenched in Australian politics. Sadly, as we have already seen, it is not a victimless policy platform. The Jewish people pay the price. All the while Australian politicians conveniently veil their antisemitism behind so-called moral activism.
Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong cannot claim to oppose antisemitism while simultaneously undermining Israel’s right to self-defense and security. Because if they continue down this pathway, what we have is a ruling Federal Government which has effectively signaled to the Jewish people that their history, their faith, their land, their culture and their future are disposable. And that puts our Australian Government at direct odds with the true and living God who promised Israel a glorious future.
