Israel’s reputation is treated as a strategic asset to be managed in Western media and political domains. The Israeli ‘machine’ spends lot of money and effort doing it. The passing of hate laws in the Parliament just switched some of the cost to us. Rex Patrick explains.
Let’s start with some disclosures. 1) I respect people of Jewish faith. 2) I respect people of Islamic faith. 3) Hamas’ 7 October 2023 attacks on Israeli citizens were wrong. 4) Israel’s genocide in Gaza was wrong. 5) Hezbollah and Houthi attacks on Israeli citizens were wrong. 6) Israel’s attacks on Lebanese citizens were wrong. 7) The terrorist attack at Bondi Beach was wrong.
Violence against civilians is wrong.
I’ve been asked to weigh in on the Gaza conflict on numerous occasions. I’ve declined because it’s complicated, requires a substantive understanding of history and involves perspectives that, without significant research, will just leave me speaking from an uninformed place.
I’m also of the view that nothing said here in Australia, including by our Prime Minister, will change the views of the Netanyahu government or Hamas. We might be a “middle power” internationally, but Australia really doesn’t weigh very heavily in the strategic or political balance in the Middle East.
I condemn the violence on all sides and advocate that, whilst everyone has a right to respectful commentary and peaceful protest, Middle Eastern affairs should not be a basis for hateful or violent division in the Australian community.
Balcony over Jerusalem
I did, however, decide to try to find out at least something about the current environment in the Middle East from someone who’s spent time there and I could trust. That’s what caused me to buy John Lyon’s book, ‘Balcony Over Jerusalem’.
Lyons is a leading Australian journalist, currently working for the ABC in Washington and, on occasion, upsetting Donald Trump. He takes the reader of his book through the wonders and dangers of the Middle East experienced and learned in his 6 years as a foreign correspondent living in Israel.
A Contemporary Overview (Source: Harper Collins)
Whilst the book takes the reader on an interesting walk through conflicts across the Middle East, including in Gaza and the Occupied Territories, one clear theme that emerged from the book was the lengths the Israeli ‘machine’ went to try to shape ad indeed control the outside world’s perception of Israel.
Controlling the narrative
In the book Lyons argues that Israel treats its international reputation as a strategic asset, and is up there with national security and diplomacy in its importance. It uses a ‘machine’ that doesn’t just react to criticism of Israel, it engages in proactive narrative shaping, which includes systematic engagement with journalists, diplomats and influencers.
Here in Australia members of Parliament are often offered all expenses paid trips to Israel, where see the Israeli perspective on security. I was invited to do so when I was a senator, but declined.
MP’s Trips funded by Israel 1010 to 2018 (Source: ASPI)
A 2018 study by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute found the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC), part of the ‘machine’, was the largest sponsor of all non-Australian Government funded trips for federal parliamentarians from 2010 to 2018.
The ‘machine’ is responsible for political donations, predominantly to the Liberal Party, but also to Labor. If the machine wants a motion in the House or Senate, or assistance to confuse Israel/Zionism criticism with antisemitism, all it takes is a phone call.
Source: The Australian 15 March 2025
Former Foreign Minister Bob Carr has called what Israeli does a “well-funded foreign influence operation designed to put the interests of Israel above the interests of Australia and its foreign policy”. MP or senators that speak out will be reminded of donations and threatened with the possibility of a well-funded opponent running against them at the next election.
If the reader google the words “John Lyons Balcony Over Jerusalem review”, the first entry that is returned is a scathing AIJAC’s review. Query “Bob Carr Israeli foreign influence” and the first return is a critical NSW Jewish Board of Deputies’ Facebook Page.
Taxpayer funded study
Whilst the attack that took place at Bondi on 14 December 2025 was clearly antisemitic, and abhorrent, it’s clear that the Prime Minister Albanese wasn’t interested in establishing a Royal Commission.
Unrelenting lobbying was clearly behind Albanese’s decision for the Royal Commission to go ahead. The ‘machine’ did not hide its efforts to get him to see thing from their perspective.
Royal Commission Terms of Reference Extract (Source: PM&C)
Firstly, past Royal Commissions have looked at events, institutions, industries, policies etc while, uniquely, this Royal Commission is peering into the minds of the citizenry. If the Royal Commission does its job properly, it will open a can of worms; worms which have proven to be beyond the management of governments trying to deal with religious discrimination or free speech Bills.
Oh, and you can’t easily put the lid back on the can.
Secondly, there’s the problem created by the duplicity of the ‘machine’ not wanting Gaza to be brought into the discussion but wanting peaceful protests over Gaza blamed in some way for what happened at Bondi Beach.
But to control that, the ‘machine’ would have to insert its own Commissioner into the chair. It tried, but thankfully Albanese went with his own choice, former High Court Justice Virginia Bell.
Maybe the ‘free’ study the ‘machine’ has got won’t deliver the desired outcome.
Ill-informed premise
Turning to the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Criminal and Migration Laws) Act 2026, the Attorney-General stated in her second reading speech:
The violent terrorist attack we saw in Bondi did not occur spontaneously. Violent extremism starts with words, words of hate spread throughout the community by pernicious individuals and organisations. This hatred is corrosive to a multicultural democratic society. This bill targets those that support violence, in particular violence targeted at a person because of their immutable attributes. This conduct is criminal, but, more than that, it is the seed of extremism, the roots of terrorism. It must be stamped out with the full force of the law.
A major problem is that we don’t know with sufficient clarity what motivated the Bondi attackers; something the perpetrators heard being said in the community, observation of Israel’s conduct in Gaza (and conflating Israel’s conduct with the principles of the Jewish faith), online teachings from Islamic State that originated overseas or locally generated extremist propaganda.
We might find the Bill advanced through the Parliament on an ill-informed premise.
From the River to the Sea – Hate Speech
The other problem is that the offences under the Bill are open to interpretation.
Saying something hateful doesn’t engage the terms of the Bill. It has to be speech that advocates or threatens violence against person of a particular a race, or nation, or ethnicity.
So, what happens when someone turns up to a protest against the genocide that took place in Gaza and chants “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free”. The person who says it might not have a violent bone in their body and, from their perspective, be rightly using it as a call for human rights, dignity, and equality for Palestinians living under military occupation in the Occupied Territories or Gaza.
An Israeli or Jew wandering past could, from their perspective, rightly view the words as a direct threat to the existence of Israel and the safety of its Jewish population, or an anti-semetic expression.
The non-violent person may have committed a criminal offence, or given cause for their visa to be cancelled.
When asked about just how this would all work,
the Attorney-General could not answer.
The cost burden transferred
That’s great for the ‘machine’.
It’ll surely find a way to test the law (including our Constitution), with the taxpayer now picking up the tab for maintaining the narrative and suppressing criticism.
The chanting defendant will might win the case, but lose their house in the process. And more chilling is that the uncertainty will remain because the outcome will most likely have turned on the ‘circumstances of the case’.
And if they’re locked up instead, the chant will change to a different set of words that could mean different things to different people and
the litigation roundabout will continue to turn.
Meanwhile, because Michael West, who doesn’t back down on honest reporting, stated the chant in a social media report presenting the non-violent persons perspective, MWM might find itself fighting to avoid being listed as prohibited hate group.
The outcome of the Court case might not matter – with the taxpayer funding the prosecution, the legal fees might bleed the organisation dry. Noting MWM’s fearless reporting on Gaza, the ‘machine’ would be ecstatic
In truth, the whole thing is a mess.
But that won’t worry the ‘machine’. Having got the Australian Government and Parliament to pick up a lot of their work, they’ll be redirecting their very considerable resources to new techniques of influence and control.