A former Israeli government official has been told to ‘dream on’ by a Sky News presenter after suggesting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese roll back his recognition of Palestine.
The Prime Minister announced on Monday that Australia would recognise Palestinian statehood at the United Nations next month, following other Western allies.
Albanese’s declaration was welcomed by Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a co-founder of Hamas and one of the terror group’s most senior figures in the West Bank.
Eylon Levy, the former spokesman for Israel, joined Andrew Bolt on Sky News to slam Albanese.
‘Australia is rewarding Hamas for the October 7 massacre and encouraging more terrorism, more barbaric atrocities against Israeli civilians,’ he said.
‘I hope the Australian Government is holding some serious crisis talks to discuss how on earth they ended up on the same side as a globally-prescribed, terrorist, Jihadi organisation.’
Mr Levy then suggested the praise from Yousef gave Albanese an opportunity to reconsider his decision
‘Hamas is giving Australia, the Australian government, a ladder to climb down from this tree,’ he said. ‘There’s no shame in saying: ‘We made a mistake. We were wrong. We don’t want to be on the same side of Hamas. We’re on the same side as our democratic ally, Israel’.’
Sky News’ Andrew Bolt told former Israeli government minister Eylon Levy (both pictured) to ‘dream on’ for suggesting the Prime Minister reverse recognition of Palestinian statehood
Bolt then issued the two-word rebuttal: ‘Dream on.’
The presenter then raised Albanese’s claim from Monday that he had ensured commitments from the Palestinian Authority’s Mahmoud Abbas.
Among them, Abbas had said Hamas will play no future role in the Palestinian state, free elections will be held and that he will demilitarise.
Abbas, who has not faced election since 2005 in the notoriously corrupt West Bank, has also promised to end ‘pay to slay’ rewards for terrorists and their families.
‘It’s like taking the word of a teenager to clean his bedroom when it hasn’t been cleaned in 20 years and he doesn’t even have a broom,’ Mr Levy said.
‘Mahmoud Abbas says he’s going to stop Hamas taking over a Palestinian state. Hamas is by far the most popular Palestinian party.
‘The only thing now that is stopping Hamas from taking over the West Bank is the Israeli security presence there.’
Anthony Albanese has said he received assurances from the Palestinian Authority (pictured: Albanese confronted by protesters while touring the Royal Queensland Show in Brisbane)
Mr Levy served as an Israeli government spokesman and was a globally recognised voice of the country following Hamas’ October 7 attack in 2023 in which terrorists stormed the Nova music festival in Israel, killing 1,200 people.
He previously served as the international media advisor for President Isaac Herzog after a career as a TV news anchor.
Prior to the end of his time in government, Mr Levy was suspended until further notice after the British Foreign Office complained about him, The Times of Israel reports.
The furore is understood to have been about one of his tweets, which responded to comments by Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron about aid access in Gaza.
He told the publication last year it was ‘difficult to believe’ his suspension was ‘really about the tweet to David Cameron because I tweeted government policy and facts’.
Mr Levy had written a now-deleted post on X responding to another one from Lord Cameron that urged Israel ‘to allow more [aid] trucks into Gaza’, the BBC reported.
‘I hope you are also aware there are NO limits on the entry of food, water, medicine, or shelter equipment into Gaza, and in fact the crossings have EXCESS capacity,’ Mr Levy said.
‘Test us. Send another 100 trucks a day to Kerem Shalom and we’ll get them in.’
More than two million Palestinians face severe food insecurity, based on United Nations projections.
Israel has denied responsibility for the lack of food in the Gaza Strip, accusing Hamas of stealing aid shipments.
It has also denied there is starvation among the population, although it has restricted the flow of food to Gaza for months, according to international human rights groups.
