Bishop: ‘Australia will never forget’

VISIBLY moved, Julie Bishop wrapped up her visit to Yad Vashem on Sunday by highlighting the “special place” that Holocaust survivors have in the hearts of Australians.

At the end of a one-and-a-half hour tour, during which the Foreign Minister inundated her guide with questions and comments, she stopped to sign Yad Vashem’s guestbook.

“Australia will never forget those who suffered at the hands if this evil brutality,” she promised in her inscription.

She continued: “As a country we gave refuge to many who survived the Holocaust and they hold a special place in the hearts of the Australian people.”

Bishop stopped and breathed deeply before continuing, seemingly weighed down by the subject matter. She concluded her message: “Yad Vashem reminds us that however troubled our world may be the forces for good must prevail for our common humanity.”

Bishop read her message to her entourage and a few Yad Vashem staff, and added: “Australia and Israel are among the closest of friends and we have shared values, shared outlook and we work together for the betterment of humankind.”

She told The AJN afterwards that she regards Yad Vashem as “one of the most graphic displays of man’s inhumanity to man that one can imagine.”

Yad Vashem was the first engagement in a two-day trip to Israel and the West Bank, which is dominated by meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials. Her engagements are mostly focuses on geopolitics, but she is also using the visit to urge Israel to do all that it can to restart the stalled proceedings to extradite Malka Leifer, the teacher who is supposed to face child sex allegations in Victoria.

At Yad Vashem, before signing the guestbook, Bishop took part in a short ceremony together with Israel’s ambassador to Australia Shmuel Ben-Shmuel, and Australia’s ambassador in Israel, Dave Sharma. Bishop relit the Eternal Flame. She also paused to reflect in the Hall of Names, which commemorates victims.

From Yad Vashem, Bishop went to have lunch with Israel’s Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and then on to back-to-back meetings with President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Meeting Rivlin, she returned to the subject of Australian Jewry, this time widening her comments beyond Holocaust survivors. Australian Jews “add so much to the richness of the fabric of Australian society,” she said.

Turning to politics and diplomacy, she discussed Australia’s determination to quash resolutions in international forums that condemn Israel.

She said that Australia is “one of the very small handful of countries that continues to take a stand in multilateral forums against obviously biased, discriminatory and unfair resolutions put forward,” stating that this will continue.

Rivlin alluded to areas of dispute between Canberra and Jerusalem — which include the extent Iran should be shunned and the subject of settlements which Bishop raised with Netanyahu — saying they are friends who “agree not to agree every time.” But most of the comments by both Rivlin and Bishop during their meeting underscored bilateral closeness and shared interests.

Bishop said that Israel and Australia “have a friendship based on common values” and “it is a friendship that must endure as like minded countries facing so many challenges in a deeply troubled world.”

The relationship “has the potential to enter into new fields of endeavour,” especially in innovation in which Israel is a “world leader.” She is keen to ensure that it “will continue to flourish based on common values.”

Further coverage and an interview with Bishop in this week’s AJN.

NATHAN JEFFAY