Rambam participants report on their experiences
The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) supporters have met up with four returnees from three separate Rambam study visit groups to Israel and the West Bank over the last year.
Julian Leeser and Senator Hollies Hughes
Federal parliamentarians Sussan Ley, deputy leader of the Opposition, Members Julian Leeser and Jenny Ware, Senator Hollie Hughes and Sussan Ley’s Chief of Staff Dean Shachar stressed the value of the trip and the need for everyone to see the situation themselves at the ground level inside Israel and the West Bank – a key takeaway being that the danger posed by Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, rather than the broader largely resolved Israeli-Arab conflict, is today the primary regional issue.
The Australian Government’s approach toward Israel and its decisions to reverse the recognition of west Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and, more recently, to recognise all of the West Bank, including east Jerusalem and Gaza as “occupied Palestinian territories,” were roundly criticised.
The participants highlighted how the Rambam program includes visits to the Palestinians in the administered territories and interactions with senior Palestinian officials, allowing for a balanced presentation. Senator Hughes has spoken publicly in Parliament about her shock during the trip at seeing monuments to Palestinian suicide bombers in Ramallah and about the Palestinian Authority’s “pay-for-slay” policy.
Dean Shachar warned that, under the current circumstances, any Palestinian state would be in danger of falling under Iran’s sway, as happened in Gaza as well as surrounding regional states.
Some of the speakers also had meetings in UAE, where they could see the results of the Abraham Accords. Ley, who actually grew up in the UAE, said the Accords, coupled with her first trip to Israel on the Rambam program, had changed her view of the region and her appreciation of Israel’s situation and positive ties with the Arab world as reflected in the Abraham Accords. Julian Leeser also said that the visit to the UAE was a concrete demonstration of how much the region had changed, with so many Israeli visitors and Emirati citizens speaking warmly of Israel to him, something previously unimaginable.
Julian Leeser said the trip was extremely valuable for him and his colleagues to get a better understanding of the situation on the ground due to expert briefings and witnessing realities first-hand – such as Hezbollah’s infrastructure on the northern border.
Some of the politicians were also present during Israel’s election last year, giving them a close-up look at Israel’s chaotic yet strong and innovative multicultural democracy.
Senator Hughes emphasised Israel’s innovation and entrepreneurship, particularly relating to water management, and how this could benefit Australia. Others, including notably Jenny Ware, also expressed their fascination with the ancient historical and religious sites visited as part of the study visit. They also said they were struck by the contemporary historical museums, such as Yad Vashem and the Be’er Sheva Anzac Memorial Centre, underlining the importance of Holocaust memory, as well as the archeological evidence of the millennia of Jewish connection to the land.
