Australia's peak Jewish body has sharply criticised the Labor Party's draft national platform ahead of the party's national conference in Adelaide, saying it "regurgitates the same old one-eyed obsession with blaming Israel" while stripping out language that had called on Hamas to disarm — a stance Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has made central to his government's Middle East policy.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim — a longstanding confidant of the Prime Minister — said the platform lacked balance and did not reflect the government's own stated positions on the conflict, particularly regarding Hamas and the conditions attached to Australia's recognition of a Palestinian state.

What the draft platform says — and what it leaves out

Labor's updated 2026 platform contains an expanded section on Israel and Palestine following the government's formal recognition of Palestinian statehood. It reiterates support for a two-state solution and states the party "unreservedly condemns terrorism and violent extremism, including as perpetrated by Hamas and other extremists." It also says Israel "must comply with obligations as an occupying power" in supplying food and medical supplies to Palestinian civilians, and condemns recent Israeli Knesset legislation introducing the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks as "discriminatory."

However, Wertheim said the platform failed to go far enough in reflecting the Albanese government's own policy commitments. Both Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong have repeatedly stated that Hamas can have no role in Gaza's future. At the United Nations General Assembly last September, the Prime Minister declared: "The terrorist organisation Hamas can have no role in Palestine's future," and said Australia's recognition of Palestinian statehood was predicated on commitments from the Palestinian Authority — including that Hamas would hand over its weapons to Palestinian security forces.

"It is a reasonable question to ask why the ALP national conference is not backing in the Albanese government in expressly recognising the government's position on excluding Hamas," Wertheim said, noting that even Hamas had acknowledged a shift by announcing a handover of government functions to a US-backed technocratic committee.

"But apparently the ALP National Conference cannot quite bring itself to acknowledge it. The best it can do is refer to Hamas, in passing, as a terrorist group," he said.

Palestinian Authority conditions also absent, Jewish body says

Wertheim said the platform also made no mention of the conditions the Albanese government had attached to its recognition of Palestinian statehood. Those conditions — which the Palestinian Authority committed to — included governance reform, ending payments to the families of Palestinian prisoners, school curriculum reform, and holding general elections.

"The draft platform says nothing about any of this, or the fact that there has not been the slightest progress towards fulfilling the commitments made by the Palestinian Authority to the Australian government," Wertheim said.

Wong underscored the government's position this week when announcing $25 million in new aid funding for Palestine, stating: "Hamas can play no role in the State of Palestine."

Israel's embassy makes rare intervention

In a highly unusual move for a foreign government, Israel's embassy in Australia released a four-page unsigned statement ahead of the conference, warning that the draft platform risked placing sole "responsibility" for the conflict on Israel while giving "insufficient attention to the decisions, conduct and continuing obligations of the Palestinian leadership and terrorist organisations such as Hamas."

The embassy also took issue with the platform's condemnation of "extremist settler violence," describing it as a "reprehensible but marginal phenomenon" that "receives disproportionate attention." That characterisation sits in stark contrast to UN monitoring data, which has documented more than 1,000 Israeli settler attacks causing casualties or property damage this year, averaging six incidents per day and resulting in the displacement of more than 2,200 Palestinians.

The embassy continues to oppose Australia's recognition of Palestinian statehood, which the Albanese government declared in September 2025.

Minister for International Development and Multicultural Affairs Anne Aly moved to play down the embassy's intervention. "The Israeli embassy can put what they want to say, but the conference is about the Labor Party coming together and settling on our platform and having those robust discussions," she said.

Internal divisions and what comes next

The platform fight has exposed tension within Labor's own ranks. It is understood that former cabinet minister Ed Husic, a vocal critic of Israel's conduct in the war in Gaza, has been pushing internally for the platform to adopt stronger criticism of Israel. Husic did not respond to requests for comment.

In a bid to present a united front, Labor planned to have two Melbourne MPs — Josh Burns, who is Jewish, and Bassem Abdo, the son of Palestinian refugees — jointly present the Israel-Palestine section of the platform on the final day of the Adelaide conference. However, ongoing infighting over the platform's wording has threatened to undermine that show of unity.

Foreign policy issues, including the Gaza debate, were placed at the bottom of the conference agenda, meaning any substantive discussion was expected on the Saturday.

The controversy comes as a royal commission into antisemitism continues to hear evidence about the pressures faced by Jewish communities across Australia, with security needs at Jewish sites having soared since the conflict in Gaza intensified.