Security officials in Canberra are worried low-level fighting between Israel and Hezbollah could dramatically escalate, shifting the security calculation at home.
The government has urged Australians in Lebanon to consider leaving now to avoid getting trapped if the Israel-Hamas crisis erupts into a broader conflict, as security agencies warn the deteriorating situation in the Middle East could trigger violence without warning in Australia.
About 15,000 Australians live in Lebanon permanently and large numbers visit the country regularly. With limited evacuation routes likely in the event of serious fighting involving Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed ally of Hamas, Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles said leaving safely now was the best course of action for Australians.
In 2006, the government evacuated more than 5000 Australians from Lebanon amid a war between Israel and Hezbollah. This week, only about 500 Australians have registered with DFAT.on Friday offered support for plans by a local council in his Sydney electorate to fly the Palestinian flag, saying Palestinian Australians had not had their grief acknowledged in an equal way during the fighting.
Warning against “competitive grief”, he said many people in his electorate of Watson knew people caught up in the fighting. Australia-Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein condemned comments Mr Burke’s comments, saying the “crossed a line” by not rejecting suggestions Israel is an “apartheid state” and suggesting a moral equivalence between Israeli and Hamas deaths.
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