Jewish peak body slams party for removing Hamas disarmament call from draft policy
Updated ,first published
The head of the country’s most important Jewish body has condemned Labor for removing a call for the disarmament of terror group Hamas from its draft policy platform, as tensions between the former close allies ahead of the party’s national conference take place.
Labor planned to present a united front on the controversial issue in Adelaide on Saturday, the final day of the caucus, with two MPs from Melbourne – Josh Burns, a Jew, and Bassem Abdo, the son of Palestinian refugees – jointly presenting the Israel/Palestine section of the platform.
But infighting over the text of the platform, which has recently been amended to be tougher on Israel and less demanding on the Palestinian side, threatens to derail hopes for an uplifting moment.
The dispute led to a provocative attack on Burns by former Labor MP Michael Danby, who accused his successor and former chief of staff of acting as a “human shield” for Foreign Secretary Penny Wong and demanded that he withdraw his support for the platform unless it was rewritten.
Executive Council of Australian Jews co-chairman Peter Wertheim, a long-time Albanese confidant, said the draft platform lacked balance and failed to reflect the government’s stated policy positions.
“Instead of offering an honest assessment of the leadership on both sides of the conflict, the draft platform rehashes the same old one-eyed obsession with blaming Israel,” Wertheim said in the Jewish summit’s first comments on the draft platform.
“It is a reasonable question to ask why the ALP national conference did not support the Albanian government in publicly recognizing the government’s position on excluding Hamas and demanding that the Palestinian Authority fulfill its commitments to governance reform on which the government’s recognition of a Palestinian state is clearly based.”
Wertheim said Albanese and Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong had repeatedly argued that Hamas should not have any role in Gaza, raising questions about why statements reflecting that stance were omitted from the draft platform.
“Even Hamas acknowledged this, announcing the transfer of government functions to a US-backed technocratic committee,” Wertheim said in this article.
“But apparently the ALP National Conference cannot accept this. The best it can do is refer to Hamas as a terrorist group.”
Wertheim said the platform also did not reflect the government’s insistence that recognition of a Palestinian state is conditional on commitments by the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank, to reform governance, end payments to families of Palestinian prisoners, initiate education reform and hold general elections.
Wertheim and Albanese formed a bond two decades ago when Albanese opposed the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel. Albanese regularly consults Wertheim on matters related to the Jewish community.
While Albanese told the United Nations General Assembly last September that “the terrorist organization Hamas can have no role in the future of Palestine”, he added that Australia’s recognition of the Palestinian state was based on the Palestinian Authority’s commitments, including that “Hamas will hand over its weapons to Palestinian security forces and never control Gaza again”.
On the possibility of Burns co-sponsoring the motion on Israel and Palestine, Danby told the imprint: “I have never publicly criticized my successor, but I am appalled that he is acting as a human shield for Secretary of State Penny Wong.
“If Prime Minister Albanese’s promised original positions on Hamas and the Palestinian Authority are not included in the final platform decision, he should withdraw his name.”
Danby, a staunch supporter of Israel, held the seat of Melbourne Ports (now Macnamara) from 1998 to 2019 before retiring and being replaced by Burns. His use of the phrase “human shield” is provocative, given that it is often used by Hamas critics to describe how the group has incorporated itself into the civilian population of Gaza.
Burns worked in Danby’s office, including as chief of staff, and praised his predecessor’s courage in his first speech to parliament. He declined to comment.
The final version of the draft platform condemned the use of violence, including by Hamas, although previous versions included an explicit reference that “Hamas must disarm and have no role in the State of Palestine.”
An earlier draft stated that Labor would “continue to work with the international community to ensure that the Palestinian Authority fulfills its commitments and to promote the normalization of relations between Israel and its neighbours”.
While announcing new $25 million aid funding for Palestine on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said: “Hamas can play no role in the State of Palestine.”
Wong, who was in the Philippines for the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), in his speech on Wednesday, once again condemned China’s missile test in the Pacific at the beginning of this month and said that this was done with “very little information and notification”.
“This comes without the transparency or assurance the region has come to expect, in the context of China’s rapid military build-up, including its nuclear arsenal, which is why Australia has described the test as provocative and destabilizing,” he said.
Some Labor sources said former cabinet minister Ed Husic, who has been a harsh critic of Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza, was under pressure internally for the platform to take its criticism of Israel even further.
Husic did not respond to requests for comment.
The draft version calls out Israel for settler violence in the West Bank, condemns the controversial new death penalty law and supports two international tribunals considering genocide and war crimes charges against Israel.
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Matthew Knott is the foreign affairs and national security correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect with: X, Facebook or email.
Paul Sakkal is the Chief Political Correspondent. He has previously covered Victorian politics and won the Walkley award as well as the 2025 Press Gallery Journalist of the Year award. Contact him securely on Signal @paulsakkal.14.Connect with: X or email.
