CHANTAL ABITBOL

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd and the newly elected Opposition Leader Tony Abbott came head-to-head for the first time at the Australia Israel Leadership Forum gala luncheon on Thursday in Sydney.

A gathering of who’s who in Australian politics and the Jewish community, the lunch was also attended by a delegation of senior Israeli politicians, including Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom.

The envoy is in Australia this week for a series of meetings with government officials aimed at building relations between the two countries.

Sharing the same stage with Rudd for the first time since being voted in as Liberal leader on Tuesday, Abbott declared: “Australia’s new era of political partisanship could hardly have had a more convivial start.”

He also used the platform to reaffirm his unwavering support for Israel: “I’d like to think that nowhere in the world [does Israel] have more stauncher friends than us.”

Shalom also spoke to the 500-strong crowd, stressing Israel’s desire to resume peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, as well as the Jewish state’s concern over Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

“The sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council [on Iran] were too light,” Shalom said. “Maybe the time has come has come to take a lateral move by the US, the European Union, Australia, Canada and Japan and others to impose sanctions on Iran.”

Outside the venue in inner-city Sydney, about 40 pro-Palestinian activists took to Martin Place to protest the forum.

More coverage in the December 11 edition of The AJN