Israel's ambassador to Australia, Hillel Newman, says the third anniversary of the October 7 attack is an opportunity for both countries to restore their traditional friendship. His remarks came in the lead-up to commemorations on Wednesday marking Hamas's terror attack, after a period in which relations between Australia and Israel have become strained.

Ambassador pitches a reset before Wednesday's commemorations

Speaking ahead of the anniversary, Newman conceded the relationship has become strained, but said he wants to see it improve. He described the third anniversary of October 7 as a chance for the two countries to return to their traditional friendship, saying that while there are challenges, he has come with goodwill aimed at making a positive change in the relationship.

He said he hoped even to reset the relationship and return both sides to the initial historical traditional friendship. Differences of opinion between the two countries, he argued, should not be allowed to swamp the wider relationship. He added that Australia is entitled to criticise Israel on particular issues.

Three years of strain since the attack

In the 2023 attack, Hamas militants killed about 1,200 Israelis and 250 people were taken hostage. The assault is regarded as the single deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust. Israel's response and its bombardment of Gaza have killed more than 74,000 Palestinians, and ties between the Israeli government and federal Labor have been close to breaking down since the attack.

• •Australia has taken an increasingly strong stance against Israel, acting alongside the UK, Canada and New Zealand to sanction Israeli politicians Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who stand accused of inciting violence against Palestinians.
• •Last month, the federal government stopped short of joining the UK and other partners in imposing a ban on goods from illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
• •Israel's foreign ministry has publicly criticised foreign affairs minister Penny Wong on social media in recent weeks, branding her United Nations comments on settler violence in the West Bank a blatant lie.
• •Earlier, in an intervention into domestic Australian politics, Israel urged Labor to soften criticism in a draft policy platform that condemned settler violence and a controversial death penalty law.

The Frankcom case and Wong's response

Relations worsened again when Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom was killed in an Israeli drone strike on a humanitarian convoy in April 2024. In August, the Israel Defense Forces decided not to pursue criminal proceedings over her death, a decision Albanese and Wong criticised. Pressed on Israel's failure to release audio from the strike, Newman said it was an issue for the Israeli military.

Wong has been working with the Frankcom family on an appropriate response to the decision not to press criminal charges. In a statement, she said Australia condemned the Israeli government's decision not to pursue criminal proceedings against those responsible for killing Frankcom and her World Central Kitchen colleagues. "The Australian government will not stop pressing Israel for justice for Zomi and her colleagues," Wong said.

Other voices ahead of the anniversary

In her anniversary statement, Wong called October 7 a day of profound grief and remembrance. She said those mourned include the victims of the Hamas terrorist attacks, among them Australian Galit Carbone, and all those who have suffered from antisemitic violence around the world.

Australia Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni said the impact of three years of war was measured in two places at once: Gaza and the diaspora. "In Australia, the impact is a quieter but a relentless erosion of our place in this country," he said. Conversations about Palestinians, he said, take place without them and carry a suggestion that they do not belong.

He added that Palestinians are made to prove they are Australian, and even human, and called protest against the war, and against Australia's complicity in it, the domestic footprint of genocide, saying opposition is treated as more controversial than support.

In 2025, a UN commission concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, citing tens of thousands of civilian deaths and massive destruction. The Israeli government firmly rejects the genocide accusations.

Greens leader David Shoebridge said Australians would reflect on the devastating toll of violence. "The attacks on October 7 were condemned by the Greens at the time, as our party has a deep belief in peace and non-violence," he said, adding that the same core value leads the party to condemn the ongoing genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank.

The cooler relations come against a backdrop of antisemitic attacks in Australia, ahead of the first anniversary of the Bondi massacre on 14 December, in which fifteen people were killed by a father-son duo who opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration.

Commemorations are due on Wednesday. Wong said the government continues to engage closely with the Frankcom family on further action, while Newman said Israel remains open to any request for reparations to the family and supports continued discussions.