The election results show that a pro-Israel policy does not garner votes for the Liberal or Labor parties, a trend also evident in the 2022 election.

There is a distinct difference between pro-Palestine voters and pro-Israeli voters. Pro-Israeli advocates are lobbying politicians to support Israel, irrespective of its aggression, occupation, violations, apartheid and genocide. In contrast, pro-Palestine supporters are calling for Australia to back justice, international law, equality, and peace in the Middle East. Supporting these principles aligns with Australia’s national interest.

The era of Labor taking the votes of Arab, Muslim and other Australians for granted is over. They are now holding their parliamentary representatives accountable for their positions on Israel.

Politicians who express loyalty to Israel and its lobby have alienated themselves from Australian voters who oppose Israel’s brutal occupation, colonial apartheid and the genocide of the Palestinian people.

According to the 2021 census, the Jewish community is less than 100,000 (99,956), while the Arab community numbers 476,545 and the Islamic community 813,392.

An analysis of data from the 2021 General Census, which compared the number of Australian Arabs, Muslims, and Jews in each federal electoral district, as well as the votes received by government and opposition candidates in the 2022 federal election, revealed that the Arab and Muslim communities can significantly influence the outcome in at least 21 federal seats. Of these, 15 were held by Labor (11 were marginal seats), the Liberals held five, and an independent held one. In contrast, the Jewish vote has the potential to influence four seats (three marginal and one fairly safe), with two of these were held by independents and two by Labor.

Neither Arab, Muslim nor Jewish communities are homogeneous in their voting.

Additionally, several public opinion surveys showed the majority of Australians sympathise more with Palestine, than Israel.

Despite the significant voting power of Muslim and Arab communities, major political parties overlooked their concerns and connections to the Middle East. This neglect is troubling, as many community members have families in the Middle East who live under Israeli brutality.

Even more alarming, both parties failed to condemn Israel’s genocide and the killing of tens of thousands of civilians, children, and women, giving it the excuse of “self-defence,” while ignoring the reality of the Israeli regime’s racist colonial practices, ethnic cleansing, and the deprivation of Palestinian people of their homeland and rights for more than 77 years.

As a result, there has been widespread discontent and disillusionment among Australians, particularly within Arab and Muslim communities, leading to a loss of trust in their members of Parliament. This has sparked a campaign against voting for both major parties, with the Liberals being preferenced last.

This was the first time Australian voters made Palestine an election issue.

Israeli Lobby campaigns backfired

During the last two federal elections, the Israeli Lobby and its devoted ally, the Murdoch media, which acts as a channel for Israeli propaganda, launched a campaign inciting the public against Anthony Albanese and the ALP, fearing that if he were elected, he would end Australia’s pro-Israel policy and adopt a balanced policy, in line with international law, UN resolutions and the ALP platform to recognise the state of Palestine.

Their 2021 campaign included a Sky News report titled “uncovering unsavoury dark past”, highlighting Albanese’s support for Palestinian rights and his opposition to Israel’s occupation and violations, believing public opinion favoured Israel and this would lead to votes against the ALP.

The election resulted in the defeat of the Liberal Government led by Scott Morrison, which the Times of Israel described as “the country’s most pro-Israel government ever”. In contrast, Albanese and the ALP won the election, with the public aware of Albanese’s stance on Palestine.

Additionally, two zealous pro-Israeli sitting members, Dave Sharma and Josh Frydenberg, lost their seats in areas with significant Jewish populations, and the Greens, who hold a firm pro-Palestinian policy, increased their support.

Dutton did not learn. Along with other shadow ministers like Simon Birmingham, James Paterson and Dave Sharma, he has acted as spokesman for Israel, thoughtlessly repeating the talking points provided by the Israeli Lobby. He grovelled in his appeasement to win their blessing and promised them more than they anticipated if elected.

During a three-day visit to Israel, funded by the Israeli lobby group, the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, Dutton met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is committing a genocide and wanted by the International Criminal Court.

During the meeting, Dutton said, “I sent a very clear message that should we win the next election, we look forward to the relationship becoming stronger,” and in an interview he revealed his intention to disregard the ICC arrest warrant and welcome Netanyahu to Australia, violating Australia’s commitment to international law and its ratification of the Rome Statute on 1 July 2002.

Dutton also said one of his first acts, if elected, would be to bolster ties with Netanyahu’s government, and that calling Netanyahu would be among his first official acts, describing the government’s stance toward Israel as one of its “most egregious foreign policy failures".

Further, Dutton promised to terminate funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which provides health and education assistance for Palestinian refugees, and indicated Australia would resume voting with Israel at the UN.

In his extreme support for Israel, Dutton went as far as to label the Australian Government’s vote at the UN, with 158 other countries, calling for a peaceful settlement between Palestine and Israel, as a “threat to civilisation itself”. He called for a ban on Palestinians entering Australia and pledged to implement this policy if elected.

Dutton and his party have never shown any sympathy or compassion for the tens of thousands of Palestinian children, men and women killed or burned alive by Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment of civilian districts, nor shown support for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

Moreover, Dutton and his party’s pro-Israeli apologists even attacked hundreds of thousands of Australians of conscience who took to the streets in cities across the country to express solidarity with Palestinians and against Israel’s genocide, labelling these demonstrators antisemitic. He denied the existence of Islamophobia.

The immoral and extremist support for Israel by Dutton and the Liberals has prompted a large segment of Australian society, including Arab and Islamic communities, to appeal to voters to put the Liberals last on their ballot paper, and they did.

Beside Dutton losing his own seat, the Liberals lost all five seats — Banks, Sturt, Deakin, Menzies and Moore — where Australian Arab and Muslim voters can influence the outcomes. There was also a strong switch against them in other electorates such as Bennelong, Gilmore, Macarther, Parramatta and Bruce.

As for the ALP, ironically, Albanese compromised the principles he claimed to uphold and betrayed those who voted for him to appease the Israeli Lobby and far-right extremists, who voted against him foolishly believing that appeasing the Israeli Lobby and the Murdoch media, would win him their favour. The outcome was the opposite.

Albanese said in an interview, “Everything that has been requested by the Jewish Board of Deputies, who I’ve met with regularly, has been delivered, some of it in record time. For example, the last request for increased funding for security around synagogues, around schools and Jewish institutions was requested on a Saturday evening and was announced on the Sunday morning.”

In nearly a year, the Albanese Government gave $260 million to the Jewish community for building and developing cultural centres, additional Holocaust museums and to enhance security for their schools, synagogues, and institutions. This level of financial support is unparalleled; no other community, not even those 10 times bigger than the Jewish community — including those facing racist threats — can dream of receiving similar funding, even though the Jewish community is the wealthiest in Australia and sends tens of millions of tax-exempt dollars in donations to Israel every year.

Albanese backed Israel’s right to “self-defence,” and refused to condemn the country’s war crimes. He refused to support the decisions of the International Court of Justice, continued to provide Israel with military intelligence collected by the Pine Gap spy station, sold weapons to Israel, sent Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to Israel, and did not honour Labor’s platform to recognise the state of Palestine. Despite all this, Israel, its lobby, and the Murdoch media launched a campaign against the ALP.

Following Australia’s voting alongside 158 other countries in favour of a UN resolution supporting the “permanent sovereignty” of Palestinians in the 1967 Occupied Palestinian Territory and another resolution demanding an end to Israel’s unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Netanyahu said: “It is impossible to separate this reprehensible act from the extreme anti-Israeli position of the Labor Government in Australia, including the scandalous decision to support the UN resolution calling on Israel ‘to bring an end to its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as rapidly as possible’. Anti-Israel sentiment is antisemitism.” Netanyahu’s remarks are part of the propaganda to conflate opposition to Israel with antisemitism, aiming to damage the government’s image ahead of the election. This propaganda was echoed by Dutton, the Israeli Lobby and the Murdoch media.

In an interview with the ABC, Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel described the Albanese Government’s policies as inciting violence against Australia’s Jewish community. Former president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Jillian Segal, whom Albanese appointed as Australia’s special envoy to combat antisemitism, blasted the Labor Government for daring to call for a ceasefire and for Israel to “cease the attacking of hospitals”, calling that a “libel” in a joint statement with Jeremy Leibler, president of the Zionist Federation of Australia.

So, what were the election results?

Labor lost significant votes in electorates with large Arab and Muslim Australian constituencies, and also saw substantial vote losses in Wills, Blaxland, Fowler, Watson and Calwell among others.

Although the Greens lost seats in the Lower House, due to the preferential system, their overall voter turnout increased significantly, with a notable swing towards them in Wills and other electorates which have a sizeable number of Muslim and Arab Australians.

This election marked the beginning of an awakening among many voters, but the upcoming election will be even more decisive and will have a greater impact on outcomes.