Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s handling of Australia’s Middle East policy has come under fierce scrutiny – and with good reason. As the conflict between Israel and Iran escalates, Wong’s approach reveals a troubling combination of ideological bias and a failure to grasp the region’s brutal realities.

The situation has deteriorated rapidly. Israel’s pre-emptive strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities have triggered missile retaliation, civilian casualties, and destruction. Wong has described the situation as ‘perilous’, calling for calm dialogue and diplomacy. Admirable in theory, perhaps, but in practice? Too little, too late. When aggression threatens survival, cautious platitudes fall short.

Aaron Patrick, an astute Australian journalist, put it plainly in his article that Wong’s sanctions on Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich ‘pander to Hamas supporters’ and risk inflaming violence against Australian Jews. Penny Wong and Anthony Albanese had pledged that Australia’s support for Israel would remain unchanged if they won the 2022 election. However, shortly after their victory, they reversed that relationship, all in line with Albanese’s appearances and chants against Israel earlier in his parliamentary career. This is not just a matter of foreign policy finesse – it’s political pandering dressed up as diplomacy.

Wong’s foreign policy lacks any clear strategic backbone. Diplomacy is about understanding complexities, protecting national interests, and upholding values. Instead, Wong appears reactive, perhaps pandering to Labor’s radical wing and appeasing vocal progressive factions rather than standing firm for principle and security. Her sanctions against Israeli ministers – justified as a response to ‘incitement’ – are selective and inflammatory. At a time when calm is essential, they risk driving a wedge in Australia’s historically robust relationship with Israel, a democracy and a vital Western ally in a volatile region.

Then there’s her rhetoric. Wong famously compared Israel to authoritarian regimes like Russia and China, claiming criticism of Israel is not automatically antisemitic. While the latter is true, the comparison itself is absurd and offensive. Israel remains a vibrant democracy with free elections and a judiciary independent of autocrats who jail dissidents or launch imperialistic wars. This false equivalence isn’t just sloppy – it’s morally bankrupt.

Her diplomatic choices compound the problem. At the UN General Assembly, Wong met with Iranian and Palestinian representatives – but refused to meet Israeli officials. Wong votes against Israel at every opportunity she gets at the UN. Wong refused to visit the sites of the October 7 atrocities, nor meet with the Australian families of the atrocities while on a short visit to Israel. The message is clear: Israel’s right to self-defence is negotiable. Silence in diplomacy often speaks louder than words – and Wong’s silence is deafening.

Then there’s the disgraceful tolerance shown toward Iran’s ambassador to Australia. Ahmad Sadeghi called Israel a ‘Zionist plague’ and hailed Hamas’s vow to eliminate Israel by 2027 as a ‘heavenly and divine promise’. This came hot on the heels of Iran’s Supreme Leader threatening ‘revenge’. Prime Minister Albanese initially appeared to sidestep condemnation, only calling the remarks ‘abhorrent’ after pressure mounted. That delay damaged Australia’s standing. Wong’s failure to confront Iran’s aggression, nuclear ambitions, and terrorism sponsorship – while ramping up criticism of Israel – is alarming. When Israel is attacked by Iran-backed groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, Australia should be unwavering in its support, not trying to appease the Greens or left-wing inner-city voters. Imagine Israel can liberate the people of Iran from this tyrannical regime…

Australia should not be denying visas to Israelis because they don’t agree with their political views but allow Islamic hate preachers who openly call for death to Jews. If not Jews, they call for death to infidels, or non-believers (of Islam).

As Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly warned, Israel takes Iran’s nuclear threat deadly seriously. So should every Western democracy. We learned 90 years ago what happens when a leader threatens to kill all Jews.

As former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir famously said: ‘We Jews have a secret weapon in our struggle with the Arabs – we have no place else to go.’

Israel’s survival is not theoretical; it is existential, forged in over 3,500 years of archaeology and history and fire – from the Romans, the Spanish Inquisition to the Holocaust to every rocket fired by those who would see it destroyed. Archaeology doesn’t lie, people do!

Yet under Wong and Albanese, Australia has drifted from this clear moral imperative. The Jewish community, once confident in bipartisan support, now feels exposed. Antisemitism is rising – fed in part by government rhetoric that fails to distinguish criticism from demonisation. This is not about one minister or one moment. It is about Australia’s future foreign policy direction. Will it stand for enduring values, or buckle under ideological pressure from those who don’t only hate Jews and Israel, but traditional Australian values?

As Meir also said, ‘We don’t rejoice in victories. We rejoice when a new kind of cotton is grown, and when strawberries bloom in Israel.’ This is the Israel the world should support: a democracy defending itself out of necessity, yearning for peace, yet unwilling to trust terrorists or the wavering sympathies of diplomats. A light upon the nations leading the world in innovation, technological and medical breakthroughs which even its enemies benefit.

And long after this Labor government fades, Israel will endure – rooted in democracy, resilience, and hope.