AHRON SHAPIRO

THE United Nations’ Goldstone Commission Report on the Gaza war used information that was gathered in a manner of a “Stalinist show trial”, according to Mark Regev, the Australian-born spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Speaking to The AJN during a visit to Melbourne last week, Regev said the Goldstone Report was a blatantly biased document that was “born in sin”.

Regev outlined the challenges facing the Netanyahu government in both foreign and domestic affairs.

On the issue of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Regev declined to comment whether Netanyahu had a specific red line in Iran’s nuclear program that would require Israel to take action, instead emphasising that Israel hoped the current diplomatic process would bear fruit.

“If we see a diplomatic process that works, no-one will be more thankful than Israel and, of course, our Arab neighbours,” he said.

Regev reiterated Netanyahu’s position that curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions was in the regional and global best interest, and made the point that, on this matter, Israel and its Arab neighbours see eye to eye.

“On this issue, there isn’t an Arab and Israeli dispute,” he said. “No-one wants to see Iran go nuclear.”

Following the opening of the Knesset’s winter session last week, Regev highlighted Netanyahu’s legislative agenda for the coming months.

Those priorities include advancing Netanyahu’s land-reform initiatives and moving forward with the expansion of Israel’s transportation system for what Regev described as the socioeconomic benefit of the country.

Regev threw cold water on persistent news reports that Fatah and Hamas are close to an Egyptian-brokered unity pact, saying that such reports have circulated for some time without a real basis in truth and that “a bit of scepticism is in order”.

Regev also took the opportunity to reiterate the Israeli government’s position that such a pact would be detrimental to the prospects for peace.

“We see Hamas as part of the problem and not part of the solution,” Regev said, adding, “We think bringing Hamas back into the mainstream could well kill the [peace] process.”

Finally, in contrast to polls that have shown Israeli public perception of US President Barack Obama as being anti-Israel, Regev defended the US President as a friend of Israel, highlighting Obama’s past pro-Israel gestures.

He noted that Netanyahu has great support and optimism for Obama and feels he may be “uniquely positioned to help the peace process”, something Regev said the Prime Minister would ­welcome.

“I think what must be remembered is that in many ways, [Obama] is uniquely positioned to help the peace process because he has credibility among the Arab and Muslim world, that maybe previous US presidents didn’t have,” Regev said.

Regev added that it was important to remember that “Obama stood up in Cairo, in the very heart of the Arab and Muslim world, and he said that the relationship between America and Israel is unbreakable, and he called upon the Arab world to do more for peace. There is potential here for a president that can really make a difference – and we want to see the peace process move forward.”