{"id":563019,"date":"2026-03-25T09:23:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T09:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/563019\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T09:23:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T09:23:24","slug":"australia-backs-lebanons-sovereignty-and-opposes-occupation-penny-wong-tells-israel-australian-foreign-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/563019\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia backs Lebanon\u2019s sovereignty and opposes occupation, Penny Wong tells Israel | Australian foreign policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Penny Wong has told her Israeli counterpart that Australia supports Lebanon\u2019s sovereignty and does not want to see the southern part of the country occupied by Israel, after the Netanyahu government revealed plans to pursue a \u201cdefensive buffer\u201d<\/a> against Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.<\/p>\n

It comes as Israel<\/a> vowed to continue striking Iran, dimming hopes of de-escalation even as the US president, Donald Trump, talked up the prospects of a deal to end the conflict.<\/p>\n

The Guardian reported Israel\u2019s defence minister<\/a>, Israel Katz, said Israeli forces would \u201ccontrol the remaining bridges and the security zone up to the Litani\u201d \u2013 a river that meets the Mediterranean about 30km north of Israel\u2019s border.<\/p>\n

Wong said she spoke to Israel\u2019s foreign affairs minister, Gideon Sa\u2019ar, on Tuesday night to reiterate Australia\u2019s condemnation of Iran<\/a> and concern over the ongoing conflict at the strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

But Wong, who has previously clashed with Sa\u2019ar<\/a>, was firm on Australia\u2019s opposition to any Israeli seizure of Lebanese land.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia is gravely concerned at the expansion of the conflict in Lebanon<\/a>, the loss of life and displacement of more than one million civilians,\u201d she said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe discussed Hezbollah\u2019s continued strikes on Israel and agreed they must disarm in line with previous agreements.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia supports Lebanon\u2019s sovereignty \u2013 so we do not want to see occupation of southern Lebanon by Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

Wong also advised \u201cAustralians in Lebanon to leave now, if safe to do so \u2013 please do not wait until it\u2019s too late\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade estimates about<\/a> 15,000 Australians reside in Lebanon. Since the outbreak of the war, more than 8,000 Australians and permanent residents have returned from the Middle East from across the region.<\/p>\n

In a post to social media, Sa\u2019ar said he had emphasised to Wong \u201cthe massive scale of missile, rocket, and drone attacks against Israel from Lebanon\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael is acting to defend its communities and citizens,\u201d Sa\u2019ar said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI described the reality of life these days in our northern [Israeli] communities, to which residents returned after over a year in which they didn\u2019t live in their homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, the Lebanese government is not taking practical steps against Hezbollah, neither to stop the attacks on Israeli civilians, nor in other contexts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the weekend, Australia announced an extra $5m in aid to support civilians in Lebanon, particularly women and children, impacted by the conflict.<\/p>\n

It is understood Wong and Sa\u2019ar also discussed a number of other issues likely to fan lingering tensions between Australia and Israel.<\/p>\n

Among them were comments made by the Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who was sanctioned by Australia last June<\/a> and has backed moves for a \u201cnew border\u201d with Lebanon from the Litani river.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s mission to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah remains closed more than seven months after Israel revoked Australian diplomats\u2019 visas<\/a> in retaliation.<\/p>\n

Guardian Australia understands the Albanese government is continuing to press Israel for their return.<\/p>\n

Escalating settler violence in the West Bank<\/a> was also discussed, as Israel tightened its control<\/a> over the occupied territory.<\/p>\n

In February, Israel amended laws<\/a>, overturning a ban on the sale of land in the West Bank to non-Arabs and transferring authority over building licences from the Palestinian-run municipality to the Israeli civil administration.<\/p>\n

Katz and Smotrich issued a joint statement<\/a> after the measures were passed: \u201cWe will continue to kill the idea of a Palestinian state.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Penny Wong has told her Israeli counterpart that Australia supports Lebanon\u2019s sovereignty and does not want to see…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-563019","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}