Penny Wong's trip a 'failure' after Israelis 'weren’t taking her seriously'

Former Howard advisor Peter McGauran has branded Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s trip to Israel as a “failure” after her actions meant the Israelis “weren’t going to take her very seriously”. “She dismissed the potential for her trip … by refusing to go to the site of the initial invasion – a massacre of 1,200 Israelis in the most barbarous of circumstances,” Mr McGauran told Sky News Australia. “The Israelis weren’t going to take her very seriously after that. “She had to show the raw emotion – the unqualified condemnation of Hamas. “It was a failure I’m afraid but the chances of it moving the dial in any way or being a success were pretty remote anyway.”