A handful of Israeli politicians, including one within Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, have urged Coalition MPs to dump Australia’s longstanding two-state policy on Israel and Palestine ahead of the upcoming federal election.
They claim that maintaining the policy would reward Hamas and destroy Israel.
The letter, which was signed by eight members representing governing and opposition parties in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, was handed to federal politicians at an event in Parliament House in February attended by several Coalition MPs and senators. Guardian Australia has not been able to identify the woman and man seen handing the letter to politicians.
The event was hosted by the deputy chair of the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security, Andrew Wallace, to celebrate the launch of the Australia-Israel Allies Caucus – a group of mostly Coalition members critical of the federal government’s approach toward Israel.
The letter, addressed to Wallace, a Queensland LNP backbencher, urged the caucus members to ditch bipartisan support for a two-state solution, which would see Palestine recognised internationally as a state, saying it would “benefit” both Australia and Israel.
“While Australia’s main political parties formally continue to endorse two states, Israel’s political representatives and public have long opposed such a plan,” the letter said.
“Especially since the October 7th massacre, it is clear that the creation of a Palestinian state would mean the destruction of the state of Israel.”
Its signatories included far-right members of Israel’s parliament, including Ohad Tal of the Religious Zionism party and Almog Cohen of Otzma Yehudit, or “Jewish Power”, as well as Amit Halevi from Netanyahu’s Likud party. Tal tweeted the letter from his X account in February.
“The consequences of October 7th must include the deletion of the two-state option rather than rewarding the savages who committed the massacre,” the letter continued.
“A Palestinian state would serve the sole, defining, antisemitic goal of Palestinian nationalism: the eradication of the Jewish state.
“Ahead of the federal elections in Australia, we call on the various political parties to remove the two-state paradigm from their party platforms. Such a move would send a strong message of support and friendship to Israel and to Jewish Australians. It would also express a commitment to common sense, justice, and peace in Israel in the region.”
Guardian Australia attended the event in February and requested a copy of the letter but was denied. A Liberal staff member described it at the time as “letters of encouragement” from Israeli politicians. It’s understood Wallace allowed the individuals to distribute the letters to politicians in attendance.
Wallace said he supported Australia’s bipartisan policy of a two-state solution in Israel and Palestine when asked in February. He did not respond to a request for further comment this week.
The Israeli ambassador, Amir Maimon, gave an off-the-record speech at the meeting, but the embassy said it had no involvement in distributing the letter.
Several Liberal and National MPs and senators were in attendance, including shadow ministers James Paterson, Sarah Henderson, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Claire Chandler. The former Labor MP Mike Kelly also attended.
A spokesperson for the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said the government maintained its longstanding commitment to a Palestinian state and the state of Israel, “living side by side in peace and security, within internationally recognised borders”.
“It is for the Liberal MPs and senators who received the letter to explain whether they still support this longstanding, bipartisan Australian government policy,” the spokesperson said.
The opposition maintains it still supports a negotiated two-state solution but has been critical of the Albanese government’s calls for restraint from Israel in its occupation of Gaza.
In a speech to the Lowy Institute in March, Peter Dutton said the government had treated Israel as “an adversary” by urging the Netanyahu government to de-escalate and pause its military response in Gaza.
Wong previously said Israel’s security depended on a two-state solution, suggesting a pathway be forged towards it as a way to achieve peace in Gaza.
“The Albanese government has adopted adversarial positions towards Israel to shore-up Labor votes in certain seats where there are, undeniably, anti-Israel and antisemitic views,” Dutton claimed this month.
“If I become prime minister, one of my first orders of business will be to call prime minister Netanyahu – to build on the one-on-one meeting I had with him during my recent visit – and to help rebuild the relationship Labor has trashed.”
Nasser Mashni, the president of Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, said the letter bared the “true intentions of the Israeli government, which has never been interested in the Palestinian people achieving self-determination or liberation”.
“It confirms what we’ve always known, and what Israel’s genocide in Gaza underscores – the two-state solution has always been a hollow promise, designed to enable Israel to maintain its apartheid and occupation while the rest of the world ignores Palestinian justice,” Mashni said.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive, Alex Ryvchin, did not directly address the letter’s contents but said the pathway toward a two-state solution looked dim.
“The scale and brutality of October 7 has certainly brought belief in the viability of a two-state solution to new lows,” he said.
“Even before those horrors, Palestinian leaders rejected offers of statehood and led their people into periods of extreme violence and terror.
“It is time for the Palestinian people to choose peace, recognise Israel and look forward to a future of dignity and prosperity free from the rule of tyrants who promise glory but bring only death.”
On Tuesday, the Gaza health ministry said at least 50,082 Palestinians had been killed in Gaza and another 113,408 wounded since the beginning of the war. The latest conflict was triggered by an attack by Hamas militants in Israel in October 2023, in which they killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages.
