Australian Jewish leader Mark Leibler has accused former prime minister Malcolm Fraser of being naïve for stating that the American government erred in refusing to authorize negotiations with Hamas. "It is time Israel and America learn that if a country has confidence in itself, in the justice of its objectives, talking with people involves no risk," Fraser said. "Failure to talk represents lack of confidence, lack of conviction and a weakness that can have tragic consequences."

Leibler, chairman of the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, lashed out at Fraser's comparisons of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) with Hamas as "nonsensical" because "the IRA never sought to destroy Britain, as Hamas explicitly does Israel, and foreswore terrorism for a place in negotiations."