Former Australian Foreign Minister Confirms that the Israel Lobby Controls Australia’s Foreign Policy

Former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr

Former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr

In my series of extended essays entitled “The War on White Australia” I described how Jewish activism was pivotal in ending the White Australia policy and initiating the mass non-White immigration that is rapidly transforming that nation. In addition, I showed how Jewish activism was instrumental in establishing multiculturalism as the ideological and legislative basis for social policy in Australia. Recently I explored the Jewish role in pushing for the enactment and extension of laws banning speech deemed contrary to their interests. Given the profound impact of Jewish ethno-politics on the Australian nation, nobody will be surprised to learn that Jewish influence also extends to the determination of Australia’s foreign policy.

Former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr recently confirmed that this is indeed the case, observing that Australia’s foreign policy (particularly with regard to the Middle East) was being virtually dictated by organized Jewry. Carr, Australia’s Labor Party foreign minister from March 2012 to September 2013, made his comments while promoting his new book Bob Carr: Diary of a Foreign Minister. Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Carr hit out at the “pro-Israel lobby in Melbourne,” saying it wielded “extraordinary influence” on Australia’s foreign policy during his time in Julia Gillard’s cabinet.  As The Guardian reported:

Asked about the comments by the ABC’s 7.30 he said: “Certainly they enjoyed extraordinary influence. I had to resist it and my book tells the story of that resistance. … It needs to be highlighted because I think it reached a very unhealthy level.”

Asked how the lobby achieved this influence he said: “I think party donations and a program of giving trips to MPs and journalists to Israel. But that’s not to condemn them. I mean, other interest groups do the same thing. But it needs to be highlighted because I think it reached a very unhealthy level.

Following Carr’s comments The Jerusalem Post sourly noted that: “John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, who wrote a 2007 book alleging that the ‘Israel lobby’ has a stranglehold on US Foreign policy, have an Australian cousin: former foreign minister Bob Carr.”

In his book Carr chronicles a bitter political fight in late 2012 with then-prime minister Julia Gillard over how Australia would vote in the 2012 UN General Assembly vote to recognize the Palestinians as a non-member state.

Gillard [was] opposed, while her political rival at the time Kevin Rudd, and Carr himself, were in favor. Rudd, according to a report of the book in The Guardian, went to Carr to talk about the vote.

“How much of this is about money, I asked him,” Carr wrote. “He said about one-fifth of the money he had raised in the 2007 election campaign had come from the Jewish community.”

Carr concluded that “subcontracting our foreign policy to party donors is what this involves. Or appears to involve.”

As in the United States (where Jews contribute much larger percentages of money in federal elections), Jewish money exerts a dominating influence over Australian politics, which practically guarantees that both sides of politics are willing to put the Australian Defense Forces (and Australian taxpayers) to the service of an ethno-nationalist state in which Australia has no economic or strategic interest. Jewish academic and activist Dan Goldberg notes that: “The annual report of the Australian Electoral Commission always includes Jewish names and Jewish-owned companies donating large sums to both sides of politics.”[i]

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (2007–2010) paying homage to organized Jewry

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (2007–2010) paying homage to organized Jewry

In his book Carr describes Israel’s former ambassador to Australia as “cunning” and reveals his fights with the self-described pro-Israel “falafel faction” in Labor’s caucus that includes Jewish MPs Mark Dreyfus and Michael Danby.Advertisement Carr makes the point that: “The public should know how foreign policy gets made, especially when it appears the prime minister is being heavily lobbied by one interest group with a stake in Middle East policy.” The Sydney Morning Herald noted that:

During his 18 months as foreign minister, Mr Carr orchestrated a significant shift in the Australian government’s Middle East policy, swinging support behind Palestine at the United Nations. Standing up to Ms Gillard, who was staunchly pro-Israel, Mr Carr succeeded in forcing her to abandon her determination to oppose Palestine’s attempts to gain observer status at the UN. Ms Gillard’s leadership wobbled in the process.

Mr Carr’s pro-Palestinian advocacy alienated many in Australia’s Jewish community, and some within his own party; and the publishing of his personal diaries is likely to inflame both the Australian Israel lobby and senior Israeli officials.

Mr Carr’s criticisms of Israel touch the highest levels of the Israeli government. Mr Carr describes Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman as “gloomy, taciturn”, and the former Israeli ambassador Yuval Rotem as “the cunning Yuval.”

In diary entries Mr Carr reveals just how deep his division with Ms Gillard went. He complains that Ms Gillard would not even let him criticise Israeli West Bank settlements due to her fear it would anger Australia’s pro-Israel lobby — a reference to the Melbourne-based Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council — which Mr Carr says had a direct line into the prime minister’s office.

“So, we can’t even ‘express concern’ without complaint,” Mr Carr writes. “This lobby must fight every inch.”

Reproducing private text messages, Mr Carr suggests Ms Gillard’s support of Israel was so immovable that she would not even allow him to change Australia’s vote on what he considered to be a minor UN motion.

“Julia – motion on Lebanon oil spill raises no Palestinian or Israel security issues. In that context I gave my commitment to Lebanon,” Mr Carr writes in a text message.

“No reason has been given to me to change,” Ms Gillard reportedly replies.

“Julia — not so simple,” Mr Carr responds. “I as Foreign Minister gave my word. I was entitled to because it had nothing to do with Palestinian status or security of Israel.”

Ms Gillard shuts him down in a final terse message: “Bob … my jurisdiction on UN resolutions isn’t confined to ones on Palestine and Israel.”

Jewish control over Australia’s foreign policy is nothing new. The support of Australian Jews for multiculturalism and mass non-White immigration sits hypocritically alongside a staunch Zionism and, consequently, strong support for Australia’s military involvement in the disastrous wars in the Middle East. The man who agreed to Australia’s shameful involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, former Prime Minister John Howard (1996–2007), was possibly the most compliant prime minister the Jewish lobby ever had the pleasure of dealing with. Dan Goldberg, the editor of the National Jewish News, observed in 2006 that:

From his first encounter with Jews, as a nineteen-year-old at the Sydney law firm of Myer Rosenblum, Howard has, especially over the last decade, cemented his alliance with the Jews, and has arguably eclipsed even the great Bob Hawke as the most pro-Israel prime minister in Australian history. Most of his empathy is a function of his foreign policy, pivoted on the US alliance, which translates in the Middle East arena to unequivocal support for Israel, regardless of which prime minister is in power in Jerusalem. Of course, Australia’s role in the war in Iraq was no doubt seen by most Australian Jews as yet another significant milestone in the long history of relations between Canberra and Jerusalem.

It is no coincidence therefore that Howard has received major awards from three Jewish community organisations in the last couple of years. It is also no coincidence that he speaks regularly to Jewish audiences, and that he is closely allied with a clutch of Jewish powerbrokers. … Understandably, most Jews were in favour of eliminating Saddam Hussein and his regime if only because he bankrolled families of Palestinian suicide bombers to the tune of US$25,000 each, not to mention the fact that it would neutralise the threat to Israel’s eastern flank. The fact that Australian SAS forces took out Saddam’s stockpile of Scuds aimed at Tel Aviv in the early hours of the war only augmented the bond between Canberra and Jerusalem.[ii]  

Particularly influential with regard to shaping Australian policy towards the Middle East is the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council. The AIJAC aggressively lobbies politicians, funds study tours to Israel for journalists and politicians, publishes a monthly magazine and highlights examples of what it calls “anti-Israel bias” in the media.

Colin Rubenstein, the executive director of the AIJAC, slammed Carr for his comments, saying his organization was “puzzled and disappointed” by his “strange claims” that Australian foreign policy was under the sway of the pro-Israel lobby, apparently a reference to AIJAC. Rubinstein declared: “It is frankly sad when an elected official imagines that disagreement with their policy position must stem from malicious influences,” he said. Rubenstein said the allegations that the lobby held unhealthy sway over Gillard “show her a distinct lack of respect.”

Colin Rubinstein

Colin Rubinstein

Carr’s comments naturally outraged all of the Jewish leaders and sent them into panicked damage control. The national chairman of the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, Mark Leibler, dismissed Carr’s claims as “a figment of his imagination,” and labelled Carr’s claims about Australia’s Israel Lobby as “inaccurate” and “bizarre.”

“Just unpick for a moment what he’s saying. He’s talking about the Jewish lobby, he’s talking about a difference of opinion between him and the prime minister,” Mr Leibler told Lateline.

“Why can’t they have a difference of opinion on a matter related to Israeli policy?

“No, if there’s a difference of opinion … the prime minister has to be wrong because she’s controlled by the Jewish lobby.

“How does the Jewish lobby control the prime minister? Through donations to the ALP and sending people to Israel. I mean, give me a break. Would anyone seriously accept that?”

Mr Leibler says he was able to raise concerns with Ms Gillard in the same way he raised them with Kevin Rudd, John Howard, Paul Keating, Bob Hawke and Malcolm Fraser.

“Julia Gillard is an independent-thinking woman. She can come to her own conclusions without being influenced by the Jewish lobby,” he said.

He says the council’s lobbying of governments is no different to other community organisations.

“When we’ve got an issue which is a serious one, which needs to be raised, we haven’t had a problem in getting access to either ALP or Liberal prime ministers or foreign ministers and so it should be,” he said.

Mark Leibler (left) with former Prime Minister John Howard

Mark Leibler (left) with former Prime Minister John Howard

The executive director of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Peter Wertheim, responded to Carr’s comments by claiming that the Jewish lobbying of government he described is nothing exceptional and that: “Every community in the country and other interest groups advocate their views to government – that’s the stuff of everyday democracy. Julia Gillard was very much her own woman with firm and long-standing views [on Israel]. The idea anyone in Melbourne could control those views is fairly ridiculous.”

Wertheim is disingenuous in claiming that “every community in the country” can advocate their views to government. The racial group who actually founded Australia and built it up into a successful and prosperous nation from scratch, are prohibited from openly organizing and advocating for their interests. This is, of course, principally due ultimately to the actions of anti-White Jewish activists like Wertheim and Leibler within the general context of the dominance of the intellectual left in academia and the elite media.

Carr’s former parliamentary colleague and Federal Labor and Jewish MP, Michael Danby (who is also the secretary of the Australia-Israel Parliamentary Friendship Group), described Carr’s views on the influence of the Israel lobby as “bigoted.” He said that in retrospect, it was a mistake for Gillard to bring Carr in as foreign minister — doubtless because Carr was not sufficiently submissive to the dictates of his fellow Zionists in the Jewish lobby.

Michael Danby campaigning for gay marriage in Australia (but not Israel)

Michael Danby campaigning for gay marriage in Australia (but not Israel)

Danby then got down to some character assassination, stating: “I haven’t read the book. I’ve only seen excerpts and I only saw the interview, but here’s a bloke plucked from obscurity who was not working as a current politician, a former provincial premier who dumps on Gillard and the former Labor government.” He likened Mr Carr to Jack Nicholson’s character in the film As Good as it Gets, claiming “A lot of people are laughing at the book; they’re not laughing with you Bob, they’re laughing at you.” Danby claimed that:

Mr Carr’s “performance” on 7.30 last night was “comical bordering on maniacal” and no lobby group in Australia has that kind of influence.

“It’s laughable but I suppose in the current climate, as George Brandis says, it’s OK to be a bigot,” Mr Danby told the ABC’s Louise Yaxley.

“No-one has that kind of influence. There are various people who have different views in Australian political life and Bob’s a big boy. He should be bigger than that.

“It was just a silly comment in a silly interview.

“People try and get their views expressed, but you know, Bob Carr’s view is a caricature. Very sad to see a premier of New South Wales stereotyping people like that.

“The interview was very funny and I know lots of people are laughing at the book and they’re not laughing with you Bob – they’re laughing at you, but it’s still very sad to hear these kind of views.”

To his credit Carr has refused to back down in the face of intense criticism from the Jewish establishment. Instead he responded by observing: “The fact is the influence the pro-Israel lobby was attempting to exert on the government and did until I stood up to them was not in the interests of Israel, not in the interests of the Middle East peace, and was being inappropriately and bullyingly exercised in the government. It needed to be resisted and I’m proud to have done that.”

While I have little sympathy for Carr’s politics, he is to be strongly commended for this resistance and for speaking out about this aspect of Jewish power in Australia.


[i] Goldberg, D. (2006) ‘After 9/11: The Psyche of Australian Jews,’ In: New Under the Sun – Jewish Australians on Religion, Politics & Culture, Ed. Michael Fagenblat, Melanie Landau & Nathan Wolski, Black Inc., Melbourne. 151

[ii] Ibid., 146-147 & 149.

 

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