Lenore Taylor, Guardian Australia political editor
theguardian.com, Thursday 10 April 2014
Former foreign minister hammered over assertions that Jewish donors had enormous influence over Julia Gillard
Bob Carr about to speak about his political memoir, Bob Carr: Diary of a Foreign Minister, in Sydney on Thursday. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP
Bob Carr has been accused of bigotry and exaggerating the influence of the pro-Israel lobby to sell his book after asserting in his new political memoir that Australian foreign policy had been “subcontracted” to pro-Israeli donors.
Carr has not backed away from the observations in Bob Carr: Diary of a Foreign Minister where he describes a bitter dispute with the then prime minister, Julia Gillard, in late 2012 over her insistence Australia should support Israel and vote against Palestinian observer status in the United Nations.
“Subcontracting our foreign policy to party donors is what this involves. Or appears to involve,” he wrote in the diary, repeatedly referencing the influence of the “right-wing, pro-Israel” lobby in Melbourne.
Asked about the comments by the ABC’s 7.30 report 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.
“I think the great mistake of the pro-Israel lobby in Melbourne is to express an extreme right-wing Israeli view rather than a more tolerant liberal Israeli view, and in addition to that, to seek to win on everything, to block the foreign minister of Australia through their influence with the prime minister's office from even making the most routine criticism of Israeli settlement policy, using the kind of language that a conservative foreign secretary from the UK would use in a comparable statement at the same time.”
Melbourne-based Jewish MP Michael Danby rejected the allegation on the ABC and accused Carr of bigotry: “It's laughable but I suppose in the current climate, as George Brandis says, it's OK to be a bigot.
“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.”
And the national chairman of the Australia-Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, Mark Leibler, said Carr was vastly exaggerating the influence of the pro-Israel lobby.
“I think Bob doesn't miss a trick. I mean, if anything's calculated to sell books.
“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. 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 controlled or influenced by someone. So the prime minister has to be wrong ‘cause 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. I mean, would anyone sort of seriously accept that? I mean, I'm very flattered … [but] this is really a figment of his imagination. I mean, Julia Gillard is an independent-thinking woman. She can come to her own conclusions without being influenced by the Jewish lobby.
“And I suppose the Jewish lobby … has the current prime minister, Tony Abbott, under its influence. After all, he's adopted a very pro-Israel attitude.”
Carr strongly rejected the suggestion of bigotry: “I have been historically a very strong friend of Israel … To say I am a bigot really does overlook my association with Jewish causes over the years … To throw around the word ‘bigot’ means that when there is a genuine case of bigotry the description rings less true.”
Later he said: “I think that’s appalling ...
“My point is this. If Israel keeps spreading settlements on the West Bank it’s going to be harder to get Middle East peace … You can’t brand such positions as bigotry because former Israeli prime ministers Barak and Olmert adhere to the same position as I.”
Asked about the extreme detail in the diary about his diet, exercise regime and disdain for flying business, rather than first, class, Carr said the everyday details added “spice” and authenticity and was intended to be “self-mocking”.
“It adds humour. It adds spice. It adds quotidian detail … It gives the diary the authenticity that comes with quotidian detail … self-mockery … and at my age I am happy to have that fun and indulge myself,” he said.
And after a full morning of interviews about his diary, he said he didn’t mind that tabloid newspapers were labelling him a “tosser” if it “adds to sales of a splendid book”.
He also rejected the claim by the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, that the book could hurt Australia’s foreign relations.
Carr said 15 foreign secretaries of the United States had written memoirs and each had made judgments about what material to use.
“I think people can trust my judgment,” he said, revealing he had showed material he intended to print to some of those quoted, including the Australian ambassador to the US and former Labor leader, Kim Beazley, and former assistant secretary of state for east Asian and pacific affairs, Kurt Campbell.
