‘Disgusting': Albanese government condemned by US Ambassador to Israel and Israeli Ambassador to Australia over joint statement on Gaza War
The US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has condemned Australia's decision to join 27 other countries in issuing a joint statement criticising Israel's actions in Gaza.
It comes after Foreign Minister Penny Wong signed a statement which accused Israel of 'drip feeding aid' and 'killing civilians, including children'.
The Albanese government has since been criticised by Mr Huckabee, as well as Israel's Ambassador to Australia and shadow foreign affairs minister Michaelia Cash.
In a fiery statement, the US Ambassador to Israel described the joint statement as 'disgusting'.
'Twenty-five nations put pressure on Israel instead of savages of Hamas! Gaza suffers for one reason: Hamas rejects every (ceasefire) proposal,' he said.
'Blaming Israel is irrational.' — Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) July 21, 2025
Shadow foreign affairs minister Michaelia Cash said the Albanese government's stance on Israel was 'disappointing'.
'It is disappointing that once again the Albanese government is supporting a statement attacking Israel,' Ms Cash said in a statement on Tuesday.
'First and foremost, any moral outrage about the situation in Gaza should be directed at Hamas.
'Hamas could end the suffering of the people of Gaza by freeing the remaining Israeli hostages and laying down their weapons.'
The United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, and Italy are among the governments who signed the communique.
However, other allies including the United States, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia did not sign the document.
The Ambassador of Israel to Australia, Amir Maimon, rejected the Albanese government's statement, calling it 'disconnected from reality'.
'Israel rejects the joint statement published by a group of countries, including Australia, as it is disconnected from reality and sends the wrong message to Hamas,' he said.
The condemnation follows mounting criticism of the Israeli government's actions in Gaza, particularly its handling of humanitarian aid.
The joint statement criticised Israel's 'dangerous' aid delivery model and accused the Israeli government of depriving Gazans of their dignity by limiting essential supplies.
Israel has rejected many of the claims about civilian deaths and blockages of humanitarian aid.
As federal politicians returned to Canberra, for the first sitting fortnight since the election, activists rallied on the lawns outside Parliament House.
The protesters paraded around with anti-Israel posters and held signs that said things like 'Albanese, Wong, gutless American patsies'.
There were also decapitated bloody dolls strewn over a large sign that featured US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The protest was at the back entrance to Parliament House, where Mr Albanese walked past on Monday.
He also needed to pass the protest on his way in to open parliament on Tuesday.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Advertiser
19 minutes ago
- The Advertiser
US beef unlikely to flood Australia as ban lifted
Australian cattle producers have been left blindsided by a decision to lift a ban on US beef, but the level of American product arriving in Australia is expected to be very low. The federal government on Thursday revealed it would lift biosecurity restrictions on US beef as it seeks a way to dampen the blow of President Donald Trump's volatile tariff regime. Australia has been mulling over the move for months after Mr Trump requested a lift on the ban, and Agriculture Minister Julie Collins stressed the decision follows a decade-long science-based review. Cattle Australia CEO Will Evans believed the move would not have been made unless the government had the utmost confidence in the science, but said some would still be unhappy with its decision. "There's going to be a lot of people today who feel blindsided by this, there's going to be a lot of people who are going to feel really frustrated and threatened by this," he told ABC radio. "We need to talk to them. "The US is an incredibly important trading partner - we need to maintain access and we need to maintain relationships with them." Some have raised worries US beef could impact Australia's domestic market, industry representatives remain relatively unperturbed. "It's a bit like selling ice to Eskimos," Australian Meat Industry Council CEO Tim Ryan told ABC. The domestic beef industry is self-sufficient and any imports of US beef are "unlikely to have any effect on the market here", Mr Evans said. The US can't even meet its own needs, he noted, and remains one of the main export markets for Australian beef. Likewise, Australian beef is one of the country's biggest exports to the US and was worth $14 billion in 2024. But the US president has taken issue with the perceived one-sidedness of this relationship, saying in April, "they won't take any of our beef". The US has been able to send beef to Australia since 2019, though any beef raised in Canada or Mexico before being slaughtered and processed in the US was previously barred due to biosecurity concerns. One concern was that Mexico's livestock tracking system could inadvertently lead producers to import beef from parts of the continent where there were disease outbreaks. But the latest announcement will lift the ban on beef sourced from Canada or Mexico after the US introduced more robust movement controls in late 2024 and early 2025, allowing for improved identification and tracing throughout the supply chain. "We have not compromised on biosecurity," Ms Collins told reporters in Canberra. "Australia stands for open and fair trade - our cattle industry has significantly benefited from this. "(The department) is satisfied the strengthened control measures put in place by the US effectively manage biosecurity risks." The change is widely viewed as a bargaining chip Australia could use while attempting to push for tariff exemptions from the US. Nationals Leader David Littleproud said he held concerns about its "swiftness". "It looks as though it's been traded away to appease Donald Trump, and that's what we don't want," he told ABC radio. Opposition trade spokesman Kevin Hogan also said there are more questions to be answered and maintained the government needed to ensure biosecurity protocols had not been weakened. Ms Collins insists the decision has been part of a years-long science-based process that precedes Mr Trump's tariffs. Many Australian goods sent to the US currently face the baseline 10 per cent tariff, while steel and aluminium products have been slapped with a 50 per cent tariff. Mr Trump has also threatened a tariff on pharmaceutical imports to the US, which is one of Australia's biggest exports to its ally. Australian cattle producers have been left blindsided by a decision to lift a ban on US beef, but the level of American product arriving in Australia is expected to be very low. The federal government on Thursday revealed it would lift biosecurity restrictions on US beef as it seeks a way to dampen the blow of President Donald Trump's volatile tariff regime. Australia has been mulling over the move for months after Mr Trump requested a lift on the ban, and Agriculture Minister Julie Collins stressed the decision follows a decade-long science-based review. Cattle Australia CEO Will Evans believed the move would not have been made unless the government had the utmost confidence in the science, but said some would still be unhappy with its decision. "There's going to be a lot of people today who feel blindsided by this, there's going to be a lot of people who are going to feel really frustrated and threatened by this," he told ABC radio. "We need to talk to them. "The US is an incredibly important trading partner - we need to maintain access and we need to maintain relationships with them." Some have raised worries US beef could impact Australia's domestic market, industry representatives remain relatively unperturbed. "It's a bit like selling ice to Eskimos," Australian Meat Industry Council CEO Tim Ryan told ABC. The domestic beef industry is self-sufficient and any imports of US beef are "unlikely to have any effect on the market here", Mr Evans said. The US can't even meet its own needs, he noted, and remains one of the main export markets for Australian beef. Likewise, Australian beef is one of the country's biggest exports to the US and was worth $14 billion in 2024. But the US president has taken issue with the perceived one-sidedness of this relationship, saying in April, "they won't take any of our beef". The US has been able to send beef to Australia since 2019, though any beef raised in Canada or Mexico before being slaughtered and processed in the US was previously barred due to biosecurity concerns. One concern was that Mexico's livestock tracking system could inadvertently lead producers to import beef from parts of the continent where there were disease outbreaks. But the latest announcement will lift the ban on beef sourced from Canada or Mexico after the US introduced more robust movement controls in late 2024 and early 2025, allowing for improved identification and tracing throughout the supply chain. "We have not compromised on biosecurity," Ms Collins told reporters in Canberra. "Australia stands for open and fair trade - our cattle industry has significantly benefited from this. "(The department) is satisfied the strengthened control measures put in place by the US effectively manage biosecurity risks." The change is widely viewed as a bargaining chip Australia could use while attempting to push for tariff exemptions from the US. Nationals Leader David Littleproud said he held concerns about its "swiftness". "It looks as though it's been traded away to appease Donald Trump, and that's what we don't want," he told ABC radio. Opposition trade spokesman Kevin Hogan also said there are more questions to be answered and maintained the government needed to ensure biosecurity protocols had not been weakened. Ms Collins insists the decision has been part of a years-long science-based process that precedes Mr Trump's tariffs. Many Australian goods sent to the US currently face the baseline 10 per cent tariff, while steel and aluminium products have been slapped with a 50 per cent tariff. Mr Trump has also threatened a tariff on pharmaceutical imports to the US, which is one of Australia's biggest exports to its ally. Australian cattle producers have been left blindsided by a decision to lift a ban on US beef, but the level of American product arriving in Australia is expected to be very low. The federal government on Thursday revealed it would lift biosecurity restrictions on US beef as it seeks a way to dampen the blow of President Donald Trump's volatile tariff regime. Australia has been mulling over the move for months after Mr Trump requested a lift on the ban, and Agriculture Minister Julie Collins stressed the decision follows a decade-long science-based review. Cattle Australia CEO Will Evans believed the move would not have been made unless the government had the utmost confidence in the science, but said some would still be unhappy with its decision. "There's going to be a lot of people today who feel blindsided by this, there's going to be a lot of people who are going to feel really frustrated and threatened by this," he told ABC radio. "We need to talk to them. "The US is an incredibly important trading partner - we need to maintain access and we need to maintain relationships with them." Some have raised worries US beef could impact Australia's domestic market, industry representatives remain relatively unperturbed. "It's a bit like selling ice to Eskimos," Australian Meat Industry Council CEO Tim Ryan told ABC. The domestic beef industry is self-sufficient and any imports of US beef are "unlikely to have any effect on the market here", Mr Evans said. The US can't even meet its own needs, he noted, and remains one of the main export markets for Australian beef. Likewise, Australian beef is one of the country's biggest exports to the US and was worth $14 billion in 2024. But the US president has taken issue with the perceived one-sidedness of this relationship, saying in April, "they won't take any of our beef". The US has been able to send beef to Australia since 2019, though any beef raised in Canada or Mexico before being slaughtered and processed in the US was previously barred due to biosecurity concerns. One concern was that Mexico's livestock tracking system could inadvertently lead producers to import beef from parts of the continent where there were disease outbreaks. But the latest announcement will lift the ban on beef sourced from Canada or Mexico after the US introduced more robust movement controls in late 2024 and early 2025, allowing for improved identification and tracing throughout the supply chain. "We have not compromised on biosecurity," Ms Collins told reporters in Canberra. "Australia stands for open and fair trade - our cattle industry has significantly benefited from this. "(The department) is satisfied the strengthened control measures put in place by the US effectively manage biosecurity risks." The change is widely viewed as a bargaining chip Australia could use while attempting to push for tariff exemptions from the US. Nationals Leader David Littleproud said he held concerns about its "swiftness". "It looks as though it's been traded away to appease Donald Trump, and that's what we don't want," he told ABC radio. Opposition trade spokesman Kevin Hogan also said there are more questions to be answered and maintained the government needed to ensure biosecurity protocols had not been weakened. Ms Collins insists the decision has been part of a years-long science-based process that precedes Mr Trump's tariffs. Many Australian goods sent to the US currently face the baseline 10 per cent tariff, while steel and aluminium products have been slapped with a 50 per cent tariff. Mr Trump has also threatened a tariff on pharmaceutical imports to the US, which is one of Australia's biggest exports to its ally. Australian cattle producers have been left blindsided by a decision to lift a ban on US beef, but the level of American product arriving in Australia is expected to be very low. The federal government on Thursday revealed it would lift biosecurity restrictions on US beef as it seeks a way to dampen the blow of President Donald Trump's volatile tariff regime. Australia has been mulling over the move for months after Mr Trump requested a lift on the ban, and Agriculture Minister Julie Collins stressed the decision follows a decade-long science-based review. Cattle Australia CEO Will Evans believed the move would not have been made unless the government had the utmost confidence in the science, but said some would still be unhappy with its decision. "There's going to be a lot of people today who feel blindsided by this, there's going to be a lot of people who are going to feel really frustrated and threatened by this," he told ABC radio. "We need to talk to them. "The US is an incredibly important trading partner - we need to maintain access and we need to maintain relationships with them." Some have raised worries US beef could impact Australia's domestic market, industry representatives remain relatively unperturbed. "It's a bit like selling ice to Eskimos," Australian Meat Industry Council CEO Tim Ryan told ABC. The domestic beef industry is self-sufficient and any imports of US beef are "unlikely to have any effect on the market here", Mr Evans said. The US can't even meet its own needs, he noted, and remains one of the main export markets for Australian beef. Likewise, Australian beef is one of the country's biggest exports to the US and was worth $14 billion in 2024. But the US president has taken issue with the perceived one-sidedness of this relationship, saying in April, "they won't take any of our beef". The US has been able to send beef to Australia since 2019, though any beef raised in Canada or Mexico before being slaughtered and processed in the US was previously barred due to biosecurity concerns. One concern was that Mexico's livestock tracking system could inadvertently lead producers to import beef from parts of the continent where there were disease outbreaks. But the latest announcement will lift the ban on beef sourced from Canada or Mexico after the US introduced more robust movement controls in late 2024 and early 2025, allowing for improved identification and tracing throughout the supply chain. "We have not compromised on biosecurity," Ms Collins told reporters in Canberra. "Australia stands for open and fair trade - our cattle industry has significantly benefited from this. "(The department) is satisfied the strengthened control measures put in place by the US effectively manage biosecurity risks." The change is widely viewed as a bargaining chip Australia could use while attempting to push for tariff exemptions from the US. Nationals Leader David Littleproud said he held concerns about its "swiftness". "It looks as though it's been traded away to appease Donald Trump, and that's what we don't want," he told ABC radio. Opposition trade spokesman Kevin Hogan also said there are more questions to be answered and maintained the government needed to ensure biosecurity protocols had not been weakened. Ms Collins insists the decision has been part of a years-long science-based process that precedes Mr Trump's tariffs. Many Australian goods sent to the US currently face the baseline 10 per cent tariff, while steel and aluminium products have been slapped with a 50 per cent tariff. Mr Trump has also threatened a tariff on pharmaceutical imports to the US, which is one of Australia's biggest exports to its ally.
West Australian
29 minutes ago
- West Australian
Australia lifts biosecurity ban on US beef after decade-long review, aim to ease Trump tariffs
Australia has opened the door to more US beef imports by lifting biosecurity restrictions, as the government seeks ways to dampen the blow from Donald Trump's tariff regime. The federal government revealed the changes on Thursday while stressing that the decision follows a decade-long science-based review. 'The Albanese Labor government will never compromise on biosecurity,' Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said. 'Australia stands for open and fair trade - our cattle industry has significantly benefited from this. '(The department) is satisfied the strengthened control measures put in place by the US effectively manage biosecurity risks.' Although the US has been able to send beef to Australia since 2019, any beef raised in Canada or Mexico before being slaughtered and processed in the US was previously barred due to biosecurity concerns. One concern was that Mexico's livestock tracking system could inadvertently lead producers to import beef from parts of the continent where there were disease outbreaks. But the latest announcement will lift the ban on beef sourced from Canada or Mexico after the US introduced more robust movement controls in late 2024 and early 2025 allowing for improved identification and tracing throughout the supply chain. The change could be used as a bargaining chip as Australia continues to push for tariff exemptions from the US after the US president earlier this year demanded Canberra lift the beef import restrictions. Australia is the biggest exporter of beef to the US. According to Bendigo Bank's recent mid-year agriculture outlook, Aussie beef will continue to be on the menu in the US, where herd numbers are in decline due to drought and increased costs of agricultural inputs. Most Australian goods sent to the US currently face a 10 per cent tariff, while steel and aluminium products have been slapped with a 50 per cent tariff. Mr Trump has also threatened a tariff on pharmaceutical imports to the US, which is one of Australia's biggest exports to its ally. Although Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is yet to secure a face-to-face meeting with Mr Trump - after their first scheduled talks were scuppered by the conflict in the Middle East - Australia has largely avoided the brunt of the tariffs as most of its exports are only exposed to the baseline levy. But other aspects of the US-Australia relationship remain uncertain. The nuclear submarine deal between Australia, the US and the UK - under the AUKUS security alliance - could be in peril after the Pentagon launched a review to examine whether the agreement aligns with Mr Trump's 'US first' agenda. However, Mr Albanese has confirmed Australia made another scheduled payment as part of the deal to acquire US nuclear submarines, taking the total paid to $1.6 billion so far. 'It's about increasing ... their industrial capacity' to build the submarines, he told ABC television on Wednesday. Under the $368 billion program, Australia will buy at least three Virginia-class submarines from the US sometime in the early 2030s. A new class of nuclear submarines will be built in Adelaide to be delivered in the 2040s.
The Age
30 minutes ago
- The Age
Question time returns, but you wouldn't look here for answers
That was after John Howard's Coalition smashed Paul Keating's Labor government. All these years later, Anthony Albanese's Labor government, having reduced the Liberal-Nationals Coalition to even worse ruin than Keating's remnants, has precisely the same novel numbers problem. And as Albanese and his colleagues have discovered, there just aren't enough seats on the government benches to accommodate 94 posteriors. So overwhelming are the government numbers that Albanese no longer has just front benchers and backbenchers, but a group we might call assistant side benchers. The side benchers, squeezed out of the government's regular seating arrangements behind the prime minister, have been consigned to spots across the House of Representatives aisle from the massed ranks of their Labor colleagues. Loading All five are assistant ministers, which is to say, not quite of the front rank in the pecking order, but a step up from mere backbenchers. The intriguing question, unanswered, is whether they are being taught a chastening lesson about status, or granted prized territory, allowing the prime minister to look fondly across at them as he rises to speak at the dispatch boxes. The new government assistant side-benchers, anyway, are in spots previously occupied by crossbenchers – independents and Greens, who rarely attracted a fond gaze from a prime minister. The independents, most of whom are known as teals, plus the single remaining Green and the hard-to-describe-but-certainly-independent Queenslander Bob Katter, have all been shoved further sideways to benches that were once occupied by Coalition MPs. There are, of course, plenty of vacant spots for the incredibly shrinking Coalition after the Liberal Party's rout at the May election. Their numbers have been reduced to even fewer than Labor's scant numbers after Howard's 1996 landslide. Labor lost government in 1996 and was left with 49 seats. Now, the Coalition has just 43. Liberal and Nationals MPs sit huddled together in a corner of the big house, an awkward partnership since their brief post-election break-up, trying to summon up the strength to caterwaul satisfactorily, and failing. Side-eyes, you can be sure, are cast. Angus Taylor and his disappointed minions of the Liberals' harder right must endure the sight of Sussan Ley leading them on a relatively moderate adventure. Even deeper into the Coalition's age of discontent, two former Nationals leaders, Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack – bitter enemies of the past, now the living embodiment of 'my enemy's enemy is my friend' – have joined forces to cause current leader David Littleproud as much discomfort as they can. Both Joyce and McCormack referred to themselves as 'virile' while pumping themselves up in media interviews on Wednesday, leading to one of the more curious moments in question time. Energy Minister Chris Bowen suggested the two were intent on describing their Tinder [dating] profiles rather than their political fortunes. Calling across the chamber to the put-upon Littleproud, Bowen said Joyce and McCormack were 'not looking to swipe right' but rather 'looking to swipe at the member for Maranoa [Littleproud]'. Across the chamber, Albanese's assembled ranks, hip to hip across the benches, not a spare seat to be found, apparently figured that old standby of question time, the bellowing of feigned outrage, was no more than wasted energy in such an uneven contest. Butter, it seemed, would not melt in this government's collective mouth. And hip to hip? Right at the back of the backbench, some comedian had assigned side-by-side seats to a pair of physical giants: the new member for Leichardt, Matt Smith, who is a former Cairns Taipans basketballer, and the member for Hunter, former Olympic shooter Dan Repacholi. Smith stands at 2.1 metres (6 feet, 11 inches) and Repacholi at 2.02 metres (6 feet, 8 inches). The first two Dorothy Dixers were given to Labor's leader-slayers: Ali France, who took down the opposition's previous leader, Peter Dutton, and Sarah Witty, who dispensed with the Greens' Adam Bandt. Loading France wanted to know about the government's efforts to ease the cost of living and Witty asked about reducing student debt. Utterly inoffensive, naturally, and designed for nothing more than drawing attention to their winning ways. There were quite a few more questions, most of them predictable. Just don't call this first session of the 48th parliament 'answer time'.
