Rudd, Abbott square off at Israeli forum

The nation's top political leaders turned up to welcome visiting Israeli dignitaries
but Opposition Leader Tony Abbott seized the chance to fire off political potshots
and light-hearted jests.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered the keynote address at a Sydney luncheon of the
Australia Israel Leadership Forum on Thursday in honour of Israeli Vice Prime
Minister Silvan Shalom and other members of his government.
Mr Rudd confirmed Australia's loyalty to Israel, reminding his 300-plus audience
that Australia was the first to support Israel's establishment as an independent
state at the United Nations in 1947.
He also raised the hot topic of climate change, saying it was hard to be confident
that the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which kicks off next week in
Copenhagen, will deliver the outcome he wanted.
"It will be very tough. It will be very hard to secure a robust global agreement to
bring about global action on climate change," Mr Rudd told the luncheon.
"But let me say this: from the government of Australia's perspective we will be
injecting every possible effort to bring about the best agreement (for) the planet
possible to bring down greenhouse gas emissions."
Mr Abbott had not been listed in the luncheon's official agenda, but he was seated
just a table away from the prime minister.
When he came to speak, he mentioned Israel's ongoing struggles with hostile forces
in the Middle East but went on to diminish an environmental slogan of Mr Rudd's.
"I cannot imagine many Israeli politicians claiming that the `greatest moral
challenge of our time' was climate change," Mr Abbott said.
The jibe, coming a day after the Senate voted down the Rudd government's emissions
trading scheme upon Mr Abbott's elevation to the coalition's leadership, sparked a
burst of laughter from the audience.
Mr Abbott also referred to Malcolm Turnbull, the man he toppled as Liberal leader in
a battle over climate change policy.
Every speaker acknowledged the Aboriginal custodians of the land where Sydney's CBD
now sits, but Mr Abbott went a step further, with a nod to the many Jewish
Australians present.
"I should also acknowledge my predecessor (Mr Turnbull), the political custodian of
the land in which so many of you live, the electorate of Wentworth," Mr Abbott said.
After the luncheon, Mr Abbott told reporters he respected the prime minister and
revealed Mr Rudd, his wife Therese Rein and their children once dined at the Abbott
family home in 2001.
"Obviously, there's been a lot of political water under the bridge since then," he
said.
"Whatever I might think of his policies, whatever hard thoughts I might occasionally
have towards him, I've got to respect him, as I hope he respects me."