The Taming of Tanya

Hope springs eternal, as the saying goes.

Some people out there apparently see Labor's new deputy/shadow foreign minister, Tanya Plibersek, as the Great White Hope of the ALP, partly on the strength of her description of Israel as a "rogue state" back in 2002.

Well, she's come a long way since then. But not, mind you, without a bit of - ahem - 'guidance' from 'friends' in the party:

"A year or so after Tanya Plibersek's widely reported anti-Israel comments, several Jewish friends who were openly Zionist and active in the Labor party told me they had since spent many hours talking to her about Israel, Zionism and the Palestinians. They said she had been quite open to discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict [and] her attitudes had shifted. Plibersek now understood why there was a Jewish State and recognised a two-state approach was the only practical solution. I was sceptical. I want to a book launch at Gleebooks where Plibersek was to be the guest speaker. The book was about Israel, the Palestinians and the Middle East, and Gleebooks was a well known gathering place for pro-Palestinian sentiment. I knew the audience would be hostile to Israel and it would be easy to score points by kicking the Israeli can. But Plibersek spoke with insight and genuine conviction. I was intrigued and pleasantly surprised to hear her say injustices suffered by the Palestinians could not be ended and a Palestinian state could not be achieved without ensuring there was a Jewish state and Israel was entitled to security as much as the Palestinians."
(Letter from Irving Wallach, Bronte NSW, The Australian Jewish News, 25/10/13)

Still,  one can never be sure she's quite got the message, so:

"Asked whether she would be open to travelling to Israel to further her understanding of the conflict on the ground, she said: 'I have had the pleasure of visiting Israel before, and I would welcome the opportunity to visit again'," (Plibersek 'would welcome' chance to visit Israel, The Australian Jewish News, 25/10/13)